  Strong interaction of a system of quantum emitters (e.g., two-level atoms)
with electromagnetic field induces specific correlations in the system
accompanied by a drastic insrease of emitted radiation (superradiation or
superfluorescence). Despite the fact that since its prediction this phenomenon
was subject to a vigorous experimental and theoretical research, there remain
open question, in particular, concerning the possibility of a first order phase
transition to the superradiant state from the vacuum state. In systems of
natural and charge-based artificial atome this transition is prohibited by
"no-go" theorems. Here we demonstrate numerically a similar transition in a
one-dimensional quantum metamaterial - a chain of artificial atoms (qubits)
strongly interacting with classical electromagnetic fields in a transmission
line. The system switches from vacuum state with zero classical electromagnetic
fields and all qubits being in the ground state to the quasi-superradiant (QS)
phase with one or several magnetic solitons and finite average occupation of
qubit excited states along the transmission line. A quantum metamaterial in the
QS phase circumvents the "no-go" restrictions by considerably decreasing its
total energy relative to the vacuum state by exciting nonlinear electromagnetic
solitons with many nonlinearly coupled electromagnetic modes in the presence of
external magnetic field.

Quantum Physics;Superconductivity;Optics