The semiconductor laser, invented over 50 years ago, has had an enormous impact on the digital technologies that now dominate so many applications in business, commerce and the home. The laser is used in all types of optical fibre communication networks that enable the operation of the internet, e-mail, voice and skype transmission. Approximately one billion are produced each year for a market valued at around $5 billion. Nearly all semiconductor lasers now use extremely thin layers of light emitting materials (quantum well lasers). Increasingly smaller nanostructures are used in the form of quantum dots. The impact of the semiconductor laser is surprising in the light of the complexity of the physical processes that determine the operation of every device. This text takes the reader from the fundamental optical gain