Near infrared emission caused by ultrasonic excitation is demonstrated for the first time in this work. The instrument is constituted of an acousto-optical tunable filter-based spectrometer, an ultrasonic processor connected to a titanium alloy ultrasonic probe and a cylindrical borosilicate flask containing the sample to be excited. The radiation emitted by the sample is collected by a concave mirror and sent to the spectrometer. The effects of the position of the probe extremity in relation to a lateral entrance of the borosilicate flask and of the ultrasonic power on the emission signal were studied. The best results were obtained by positioning the probe extremity up to 2 mm from the reflexive body (lateral entrance) using 30% of the full ultrasonic incident power and acquiring spectra after 5 min of sonication. The NIR emission spectra resulting from the ultrasonic excitation were in agreement with that obtained by thermal excitation. The proposed technique was utilized to study different poly(dimethylsiloxane) samples having different viscosities. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.135438442