the present invention relates to a method for characterizing a material using active pyrometry . the material comprises at least one thin surface layer arranged on a thick substrate . the present invention heats the surface of the material by exposing the material to high - frequency laser pulses , so as to perform a series of temperature increase / decrease thermal cycles , accompanied by a heat build - up from one cycle to the next . the present invention collects the emitted radiation , acquires and processes the signals measured by comparing the measured values to the theoretical values obtained by modelling , so as to obtain thermo - physical properties for characterizing the material . the present invention also relates to a device for implementing the method comprising a high - frequency pulsed laser used as heat source .