Organic nanostructures have been studied extensively during the last five-ten years and this field is constantly growing both in view of technological applications and of the basic scientific interest for new physical phenomena. For instance, on the one hand, multicolour organic light-emitting diodes are in the stage of industrial production, organic-based lasers and field effect transistors have been demonstrated, and various molecular optoelectronic devices proposed. On the other hand, many important mechanisms both in photophysics and transport are still not completely understood, as mentioned in the Introductory lecture by the Nobel Laureate Alan Heeger.

In this “Enrico Fermi” School, the first one dedicated to advanced organic materials, the main research results and open problems in science and technology of organic nanostructures have been discussed; in particular, growth techniques, electronic and optical properties, device applications. The necessary background material has been covered and interdisciplinary aspects have been emphasized with the aim of a unified approach to the basic physical phenomena bridging the gap between standard graduate courses and the state of the art in the field.

The lecturers have provided authoritative and comprehensive tutorial reviews of the main issues involved in the science and technology of organic materials and their nanostructures. In particular, the following topics have been specifically addressed: charge carrier mobility and transport properties, electrical conductivity of conjugated polymers, charge transfer states in organics, photorefractivity in organics, energy transfer processes in organics, photophysics and fast spectroscopy, technology of polymer electronics and light-emitting devices.

Besides tutorial presentations, both lecturers and seminar speakers addressed the state of the art in the field of organic-based advanced materials. In particular, new results of great scientific relevance among the many discussed ones are, for instance: the realization of single-crystal organic devices of very high mobility, the demonstration of the strong-coupling regime in organic-based microcavities, the controlled n- and p-type doping of organic semiconductors, the use of single-molecule spectroscopy for fundamental molecular physics and quantum optics studies as well as a nanoprobe of the surrounding ambient, the development of nanomechanics based on nanotubes, the control of interfaces and thin-film properties in organic molecular deposition.

We would like to thank here all the lecturers and seminar speakers for their participation. Apart from the formal presentations, both senior scientists and young students have been involved in many lively discussions, we thank them all for their personal contributions. Both the tutorial and the research presentation are collected in the present volume of the “Enrico Fermi” School Proceedings Series. The course has been attended by the young scientists of today who will determine the development of this topical area in the future, we hope that through the present book many more students and scholars will have access to the contributions of the leading scientists of the field present in Varenna.

We thank the Italian Physical Society both for the financial support and the perfect organization. In particular, we thank all the Italian Physical Society staff that took care with personal dedication of all the participants and, later, helped us in editing the present volume.

Finally, we wish to thank also the sponsors that, apart from the Italian Physical Society, have contributed to the School: the EUROPEAN COMMUNITY, THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF RESEARCH, THE UNESCO UVO-ROSTE OFFICE AND THE UNIVERSITY OF SALERNO.

V. M. AGRANOVICH AND G. C. LA ROCCA