In three decades since their discovery, quantum dots have emerged as a rich and interesting field of experimental and theoretical study, with a lot of potentially important practical and commercial uses. They are an intermediate stage between the microscopic “pure” quantum systems, and more macroscale condensed matter phenomena.

This book is a comprehensive resource for anyone who is interested in the best current research on quantum dots. It is a compendium of various articles on the subject, covering all the aspects of quantum dots: nanostructure design and growth of quantum dots, manipulation of quantum states in quantum dots, optical properties of quantum dots, magnetic ions and nuclear spins in a dot, electron transport in quantum dots, and single dots for future telecommunication applications. All of the articles are very scholarly and well written, and they focus more on the overview of their given topics than on first reports of original research.

This would be a great resource for a graduate student who is being exposed to the field of quantum dots for the first time, but everyone with any level of interest in this topic would benefit from having this book around. When I taught an advanced undergraduate optic lab we were just starting to try to implement a laboratory exercise involving quantum dots, and it is possible that some of the material in this book could find its way even to the advanced undergraduate curriculum.