Rydberg-state hopping in a wavemeter-locked dissipative time crystal system

Rydberg-state hopping is demonstrated in a wavemeter-locked two-photon rubidium system (Rb D2 probe at 780 and 480 nm coupler), enabling rapid and repeatable switching between the 65S1/2 and 63D5/2 states without a high-finesse 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−1 (0.4283 GHz engaged in 66 ms), extrapolating to ∼0.93 s for a ∼6 GHz 65S ↔ 63D transition. Time resolved spectra reveal re-emergent dissipative time crystal (DTC) 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 architectures.