Quantum Dots: a Doorway to Nanoscale Physics

Quantum dots, sometimes called artificial atoms, are exquisite tools by which quantum behavior can be probed on a larger scale than the atomic, namely on the nanometer scale. While the physics exhibited by these devices is closer to classical than atomic physics, quantum dots are still sufficiently small to clearly exhibit quantum phenomena. This volume, intended for graduate students and young researchers, offers an introduction to many of these fascinating aspects. In the first lecture, R. Shankar treats the general theoretical aspects of Fermi liquids, in particular the renormalization group approach, and then applies this to large quantum dots. A completely different approach is encountered in the second contribution, by J.M. Elzerman et al., which thoroughly details current and likely experimental developments in the study of small quantum dots. Here the emphasis lies on the electron spin which is to be used as a qubit. In the third lecture series, by M. Pustilnik and Leonid I. Glazman, mechanisms of low-temperature electronic transport through a quantum dot -- weakly coupled to two conducting leads -- are reviewed. The fourth and final lecture series, by C.W.J. Beenakker, deals with a peculiar property of superconducting mirrors, a very interesting aspect of nanophysics discovered by Andreev about forty years ago and still a challenge to experimental physicists.