I joined the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering at Glasgow University some ten years ago. My research was performed in a group working on advanced semiconducting devices for both electronic and optical applications. It soon became apparent that advances in physics and technology had left a gap behind them in the education of postgraduate students. These students came from a wide range of backgrounds, both in physics and engineering; some had received extensive instruction in quantum mechanics and solid state physics, whereas others had only the smattering of semiconductor physics needed to explain the operation of classical transistors. Their projects were equally diverse, ranging from quantum dots and electro-optic modulators to Bloch oscillators and ultrafast field-effect transistors. Some excellent reviews were available, but most started at a level beyond many of the students. The same was true of the proceedings of several summer schools. I therefore initiated a lecture course with John Barker on nanoelectronics that instantly attracted an enthusiastic audience. The course was given for several years and evolved into this book.

It was difficult to keep the length of the lecture course manageable, and a book faces the same problem. The applications of heterostructures and low-dimensional semiconductors continue to grow steadily, in both physics and engineering. Should one display the myriad ways in which the properties of heterostructures can be harnessed, or concentrate on their physical foundations?