A new energy loss process for energetic atomic particles passing through matter has been discovered. Studies of this new process in the mineral mica have shown that the energy lost by the particles is coupled to the lattice to create a type of lattice excitation not previously reported. These lattice excitations can propagate great distances in mica without degradation and in may ways resemble breather solitons. From these studies it was predicted that in-elastic scattering of these solitons from a crystal surface should produce observable effects and this is confirmed by experiment. It has been shown that the energy in these solitons can exceed 100eV and so they will be important in both chemical and physical processes in the solid-state. Some implications and applications of these energetic solitons are considered.