Quantum mechanical laws are well documented at the level of a single or a few atoms and are here extended to systems containing 102 to 1010 electrons - still much smaller than the usual macroscopic objects, but behaving in a manner similar to a single atom. Besides the purely theoretical interest, such systems pose a challenge to the achievement of the ultimate microelectronic applications. The present volume presents an up-to-date account of the physics, technology and expected applications of quantum effects in solid-state mesoscopic structures. Physical phenomena include the Aharonov-Bohm effect, persistent currents, Coulomb blockade and Coulomb oscillations in single electron devices, Andreev reflections and the Josephson effect in superconductor/normal/superconductor systems, shot noise suppression in microcontacts and contact resistance quantisation, and overall quantum coherence in mesoscopic and nanoscopic structures related to the emerging physics of quantum computation in the solid-state environment.
