We demonstrate a simple technique for adding controlled dissipation to Rydberg atom experiments. In our experiments we excite cold rubidium atoms in a magneto-optical trap to 70$S$ Rydberg states, while simultaneously inducing forced dissipation by resonantly coupling the Rydberg state to a hyperfine level of the short-lived 6$P$ state. The resulting effective dissipation can be varied in strength and switched on and off during a single experimental cycle.

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• Cold atoms & matter waves