Abstract: An artificial composite object combines a quantum of sound with a matter excitation. A phonon in a confinement structure containing the matter excites it from an initial state to an excited state corresponding to a frequency of the phonon. Relaxation of the matter back to the initial state emits a phonon of the same frequency into the confinement structure. The phonon confinement structure, for example, a cavity, traps the emitted phonon thereby allowing further excitation of the matter. The coupling between the phonon and the matter results in a quantum quasi-particle referred to as a phoniton. The phoniton can find application in a wide variety of quantum systems such as signal processing and communications devices, imaging and sensing, and information processing.