Microwave Power-to-Frequency Transduction in a Magnetically Initiated Rydberg Dissipative Time Crystal

Abstract

Microwave power-to-frequency transduction is demonstrated using the emergent oscillation frequency of a magnetically initiated Rydberg dissipative time crystal (DTC). In a room-temperature 87Rb vapor, a ~14 G magnetic field establishes a self-sustained DTC near 21 kHz, while a near-resonant 8.325 GHz field coupling the 63D3/2 to 64P3/2 manifold continuously shifts the autonomous oscillation frequency. The resulting field-to-frequency transfer function is strongly nonlinear, with a total fundamental-frequency excursion of ~6.7 kHz and peak responsivity approaching 1 kHz/(mV/cm). The nonlinear transition is substantially steeper than a simple quadratic saturation response and is captured by a self-consistent mean-field picture in which microwave-driven Rydberg-population redistribution modifies the collective resonance condition. Higher DTC harmonics preserve the same normalized transfer function while exhibiting approximately linear growth of absolute responsivity with harmonic order. These results establish an intrinsic many-body atomic route to RF amplitude-to-frequency conversion, enabling continuous frequency-domain sensing through an emergent atomic frequency without an externally engineered RF feedback oscillator, repeated optical spectral scans, or resolved Autler Townes splitting.