Light in a medium: do phonons store light energy?

[Habeebe]

When light travels through a transparent medium and is absorbed then re-emitted, do the phonons just move to a higher energy state after absorption? Is it the same as absorption and re-emission of light by electrons, aside from having a continuous range of available energies?

 

[sophiecentaur]

absorption and re-emission of light by electrons,

That process would introduce an unknown delay between absorption and emission with each photon interaction. That would not sustain a coherent transmission through the medium. Drastic scattering would result from the spread in phases of each re-emitted wave.