Non-equilibrium Rydberg gases exhibit exotic many-body phases stabilized by
the interplay of coherent interactions and dissipation. Strong Rydberg
interactions drive sustained limit cycle oscillations, whose robustness,
long-range temporal order, and spontaneous time-translation symmetry breaking
establish a dissipative time crystal (DTC). Collective self-entrainment in
driven ensembles leads to global synchronization and a dominant oscillation
frequency. Here, injection locking of a Rydberg DTC is demonstrated using a
radio-frequency (RF) electric field that gradually pulls the intrinsic
oscillation toward the injected frequency. Above a critical threshold, full
synchronization occurs, with the locking bandwidth scaling linearly with RF
amplitude. This includes synchronization of higher-order harmonics, revealing
entrainment of the system nonlinear temporal dynamics. The phenomenon parallels
injection locking in classical nonlinear systems, but emerges here in a
strongly interacting quantum medium. This approach establishes a new method for
stabilizing and controlling quantum temporal order, with applications in
precision sensing, quantum metrology, and timekeeping.

Este artículo explora los viajes en el tiempo y sus implicaciones.

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