[Rayhem]

It's very likely an off-resonant, non-quantum excitation. If the incident light is at the resonance frequency of the atom, it will excite electrons which will spontaneously decay and throw off the energy. Far from resonance, though, the atoms will wiggle (classically) like a harmonic oscillator from forces due to the fields (similar to the answer here: https://physics.stackexchange.com/a/474/23322).