Polycarbonate foil stacks were irradiated with 2.1 GeV Kr ions under vacuum at room temperature.The modifications in chemical structure induced by the irradiation were studied by means of Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) and ultraviolet visible (UV/VIS) spectroscopies. FTIR measurements reveal that material degradationsthrough bond breaking are the main effects. Alkyne end groups are produced by the irradiation. UV/VIS measure-ments indicate a shifting of the absorption edge from ultraviolet towards visible, and a strong increase of absorbancein the ultraviolet and visible regions. The changes in absorbance induced by the irradiation at wavelengths of 380 nm,450 nm and 500 nm scale well with Sne (Se is electronic energy loss) where the value of n increases from 1.69 to 2.02with increasing of the wavelength. The results are briefly discussed.