This review introduces hydrogen depth profiling by nuclear reaction analysis (NRA) via the resonant ¹H(¹⁵N,αγ)¹²C reaction as a versatile method for the highly depth-resolved observation of hydrogen (H) at solid surfaces and interfaces. The technique is quantitative, non-destructive, and readily applied to a large variety of materials. Its fundamentals, instrumental requirements, advantages and limitations are described in detail, and its main performance benchmarks in terms of depth resolution and sensitivity are compared to those of elastic recoil detection (ERD) as a competing method. The wide range of ¹H(¹⁵N,αγ)¹²C NRA applications in research of hydrogen-related phenomena at surfaces and interfaces is reviewed.

Special emphasis is placed on the powerful combination of ¹H(¹⁵N,αγ)¹²C NRA with surface science techniques of in-situ target preparation and characterization, as the NRA technique is ideally suited to investigate hydrogen interactions with atomically controlled surfaces and intact interfaces. In conjunction with thermal desorption spectroscopy, ¹⁵N NRA can assess the thermal stability of absorbed hydrogen species in different depth locations against diffusion and desorption. Hydrogen diffusion dynamics in the near-surface region, including transitions of hydrogen between the surface and the bulk, and between shallow interfaces of nanostructured thin layer stacks can directly be visualized. As a unique feature of ¹⁵N NRA, the analysis of Doppler-broadened resonance excitation curves allows for the direct measurement of the zero-point vibrational energy of hydrogen atoms adsorbed on single crystal surfaces.

这篇综述介绍了通过共振¹ H（¹⁵ N，αγ）¹² C反应通过核反应分析（NRA）进行氢深度分析的方法，将其作为在固体表面和界面高度深度分辨观察氢（H）的通用方法。该技术是定量的，非破坏性的，并且易于应用于多种材料。详细介绍了它的基本原理，仪器要求，优点和局限性，并将其在深度分辨率和灵敏度方面的主要性能基准与作为竞争方法的弹性反冲检测（ERD）进行了比较。¹ H（¹⁵ N，αγ）¹²的宽范围综述了C NRA在研究表面和界面上与氢有关的现象方面的应用。

特别要强调的是¹ H（¹⁵ N，αγ）¹² C NRA与表面科学技术就地靶标制备和表征的强大结合，因为NRA技术非常适合研究氢与原子控制表面和完整原子之间的相互作用接口。结合热脱附光谱，¹⁵N NRA可以评估在不同深度位置吸收的氢物种对扩散和解吸的热稳定性。氢在近表面区域的扩散动力学，包括氢在表面与主体之间以及纳米结构薄层堆叠的浅界面之间的过渡，都可以直接观察到。作为¹⁵ N NRA的独特功能，对多普勒增宽的共振激发曲线的分析允许直接测量单晶表面吸附的氢原子的零点振动能。