Abstract: The present invention relates generally to a method for analyzing the surface and the near-surface layers of a solid and, more specifically, to a method that utilizes activating actions to analyze the physical and the chemical properties of the layers. The instant abstract is neither intended to define the invention disclosed in this specification nor intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way.

Abstract: According to the method for analyzing physical and/or chemical properties of the surface layer of a solid as per claim 1, the surface layer is activated by a unit irradiation pulse and, when the irradiation is over, is deactivated by keeping the solid at a constant temperature and subsequently heating it, the spectrum of the energy quanta emitted by the surface layer of the solid is recorded during the deactivation; the spectrum of the emitted energy quanta recorded at a constant temperature provides data on the loosely coupled states of the surface layer and their half-lives and the thermoluminescence spectrum recorded during the heating gives information on phase and relaxation transition temperatures in the surface layer.