I have observed this effect by rubbing together two pieces of quartz in a dark room but am unable to explain this effect. Would it be something to do with the way quartz is bonded as a covalent network?
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I'm only a first year chemical engineering student, and we haven't really covered this topic in our course yet, but I will try and answer your question to the best of my knowledge.
(I am sure people more qualified me would provide better responses.)
When we apply certain stresses to a material such as a crystal, we separate charges (which is why it usually is asymmetric... the presence of anistropy allows charge separation.) These charges then can cause electric discharge, which ionizes the surrounding air and releases a flash of light.
There exist symmetric crystals which display this phenomenon as well... and it is suggested that (probably) impurities exist within such crystals which break the symmetry.
Anyway, this is my understanding of the phenomenon, and I don't claim is perfect in any way, but hopefully is helpful to you.
