Rydberg-State Hopping in a Wavemeter-Locked Dissipative Time-Crystal System

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates rapid, stable switching between Rydberg states in a rubidium system using a wavemeter-locked feedback loop, revealing dissipative time-crystal oscillations useful for adaptive electric field sensing.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method for Rydberg-state hopping with high speed and stability using a wavemeter-locked system, enabling dynamic control without cavity stabilization.

Findings

Achieved sub MHz frequency stability and high acquisition rates.

Observed reemergent dissipative time-crystal oscillations after each hop.

Enabled low frequency E field sensing in compact, cavity-free setups.

Abstract

Rydberg-state hopping is demonstrated in a wavemeter-locked two-photon rubidium system (Rb D2 probe at 780 nm and 480 nm coupler), enabling rapid and repeatable switching between the 65S1/2 and 63D5/2 states without cavity or frequency-comb stabilization. A Fizeau-interferometer wavemeter provides the error signal for a digital feedback loop that simultaneously stabilizes the coupler and commands discrete Rydberg-state changes. The lock achieves sub MHz frequency stability and acquisition rates up to 6.5 GHz/s (0.4283 GHz engaged in 66 ms), extrapolating to ~0.93 s for a ~6 GHz 65S to 63D transition. Time resolved spectra reveal reemergent dissipative time-crystal oscillations after each hop, with distinct state dependent fundamentals and harmonics. This approach addresses the need for dynamically reconfigurable Rydberg state control for on resonant multi band field detection, while the DTC frequency reconfigurability enables adaptive, low frequency E field sensing in compact, cavity free architectures.