Switching from positive to negative absorption with electromagnetically induced transparency in circuit quantum electrodynamics

We present a theoretical study of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a superconducting quantum circuit with a tunable V-shaped energy spectrum derived from two superconducting Josephson charge qubits coupled with each other through a superconducting quantum interference device. Using the density matrix formalism and the steady-state approximation, we obtain the analytical expressions of the first-order matrix element associated with the absorption and dispersion of the probe field for two different V-type schemes. Our results show that, for this superconducting quantum system, it is possible to realize a remarkable phenomenon that dynamic conversion between EIT and EIT with amplification without population inversion. Such a unique optical feature has potential applications in quantum optical devices and quantum information processing.