As the photons enter the cloud of cold atoms, Lukin said, its energy excites atoms along its path, causing the photon to slow dramatically. As the photon moves through the cloud, that energy is handed off from atom to atom, and eventually exits the cloud with the photon.
These are not photons in free space being described. These are photons which have excited electron orbitals in some material.
Head of IT doesn't really need to know that much tech.
This is nonsense. Assigning ignorant managers to "supervise" technical people is a hallmark of business-school thinking. Any competent technical person will abhor that environment, leaving the company with a department full of low-IQ workers managed by a know-nothing.
Only through hard work and perseverance can one truly suffer.