Self-induced transparency in a flux-qubit chain

We introduce a quantum superconducting metamaterial design constituted of flux qubits that operate as artificial atoms and analyze the dynamics of an injected electromagnetic pulse in the system. Qubit-photon interaction affects dramatically the nonlinear photon pulse propagation. We find analytically that the well known atomic phenomenon of self induced transparency may occur in this metamaterial as well and may lead to significant control over the optical pulse propagating properties. Specifically, the pulse may be slowed down substantially or even be stopped. These pulse properties depend crucially on the inhomogeneous broadening of the levels of the artificial atoms.