Highly oxidized compounds are commonly used as the source of oxygen for the combustion of propellants. Determination of the early reactions and interactions of both oxidizer and fuel increases our understanding of the ignition process. Another critical aspect in propellant technology is safety: the elimination of unexpected initiation, weather combustion or explosion. The approach taken in this laboratory in the study of early reactions is to determine the nature and extent of chemical reaction in response to increasing levels of stimulus. Comparison of damaged materials (damaged below the initiation threshold) to standards permits the identification of the chemical species involved in the early reactions. To that end, control spectra of ammonium perchlorate (the most widely used oxidizer in solid propellants) have been collected from a freshly cleaved single crystal surface. The composition of ammonium perchlorate is NH4ClO4. Atomic concentrations, excluding hydrogen, are Cl 16.6%, N 16.6% and O 66.6%.