Rydberg atoms aren't antennas. When modulated and then read out by the electrical field of a laser they can be used to infer the ambient electrical field at a arbitrary frequency over very, very narrow frequency bandwidths. This can be used to receive radio signals. But it's not very good at it and it's not an antenna. While the specific frequency can be tuned over a very large range the instantaneous bandwidth is still too narrow to actually receive anything but narrowband carrier (no modulation wings) and barely that.
These are physics tools for specific things, not general radio receivers for transmitted information.
Could anyone knowledgeable about waves and physics related to it shed some light into possible practical implications?
There are natural astronomical sources, from blackbody radiation. It doesn't penetrate the atomosphere so space based observations only.
TFA mentions spectroscopy and non-destructive scanning instead of X-rays.
Rydberg atoms aren't antennas. When modulated and then read out by the electrical field of a laser they can be used to infer the ambient electrical field at a arbitrary frequency over very, very narrow frequency bandwidths. This can be used to receive radio signals. But it's not very good at it and it's not an antenna. While the specific frequency can be tuned over a very large range the instantaneous bandwidth is still too narrow to actually receive anything but narrowband carrier (no modulation wings) and barely that.
These are physics tools for specific things, not general radio receivers for transmitted information.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_comb