Free‐surface light emission from shocked Teflon

Shock initiated light emission experiments were performed on Teflon shock loaded to pressures up to ∼17 GPa. Radiances up to 600×10^6W⋅m^(−2)/(ster ⋅nm), were measured over a range of 390 to 820 nm. We have measured the spectra of light emitted upon reflection of the shock at the free surface and observed it to be distinctly non‐thermal in nature. The lights appears to result from bond destruction such as observed in shock recovery experiments on Teflon and in quasistatic experiments conducted on other polymers.