Fiber Optical Communication (MCC100)

Schedule and contents, study period 2, 2026

 

Examiner, Lectures: Peter Andrekson, room C428A, tel. 070-3088 606, peter.andrekson@chalmers.se   

 Lectures: Lam Tran, room C428B, tel. 031-772 1157, lam.tran@chalmers.se

 

Mondays 10 .00 – 11.45 & Wednesdays 10 .00 – 11.45 in room B429. Printed lecture notes will be handed out.

 

 

Date	Number	Topics	Book chapters	Home assign.
Nov 2	1 PA	Overview, optical fibers, attenuation	1
Nov 4	2 PA	Modulation and detection	*
Nov 9	3 LT	Modes in optical fibers	2*
Nov 11	4 LT	Chromatic dispersion	2*	1 out
Nov 16	5 PA	Nonlinear effects	2*
Nov 18	6 LT	Optical transmitters	3	1 in, 2 out
Nov 23	7 LT	Optical receivers	4
Nov 25	8 PA	Error probability, power penalties	5	2 in, 3 out
Nov 30	9 PA	Multichannel systems and networks	6
Dec 2	10 LT	Dispersion management, polarization	7	3 in, 4 out
Dec 7	11 LT	Optical amplification, gain	7
Dec 9	12 LT	Optical amplification, noise	8	4 in
Dec 14	13 PA	Advanced lightwave systems	10*
Dec 16	14 PA	Back-up/repetition/guest

* Indicates contents mainly covered in the lecture notes and to a lesser extent by the book.

 

Sections of Fiber-Optic Communication Systems (Fourth Edition, Govind P. Agrawal, Wiley Interscience, 2010, ISBN: 9780470505113) that are excluded from the compulsory reading list:

 

 

Chapter 1: -

Chapter 2: -

Chapter 3: 3.5

Chapter 4: -

Chapter 5: 5.3

Chapter 6: 6.1, 6.6

Chapter 7: 7.7

Chapter 8: 8.5, 8.6

Chapter 9: Entire chapter

Chapter 10: 10.3, 10.5, 10.6

Chapter 11: Entire chapter

 

 

Notes:

• In general, material that is discussed during lectures should be considered most important.
• The details of derivations are not necessary for the exam.
• The course material consists of the non-excluded parts of the book and the lecture notes. Note that sometimes the lecture notes cover topics not included in the book (and vice versa).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tutorials:

Sam O’brien, sam.obrien@chalmers.se , room B429, Wednesdays 13.15-15.00

 

The number of tutorials may change, but the plan is:

 

November 4

November 11

November 18

November 25

December 2

December 9

December 16

An exercise booklet will be handed out.

 

Laboratory exercises:

Niklas Hammerschmidt niklas.hammerschmidt@chalmers.se and Sam O’brien

The labs are compulsory. The labs are in B420 in the Photonics Laboratory.

1. Dispersion and optical amplifiers, study week 3
2. Optical communication systems: characteristics & performance, study week 5

 

The laboratory exercises are four hours each and are done in groups of maximum two students. The booking procedure will be explained in class and in Canvas. The lab PMs will be printed and handed out on or before lecture 5 and can also be downloaded from the course web page.

 

It is important that you prepare the labs by reading the relevant chapters in the book and solving the exercises specified in each lab PM. Students that have not solved these will not be allowed to do the lab exercises, and instead be given a compulsory, extensive home assignment.  Also note that some of the contents of these exercises may be covered in lectures after the exercises themselves, which means that you will need to prepare accordingly.

 

Home assignments:

Carmen Lopez, haide@chalmers.se

The four voluntary home assignments will be downloadable from the web page and can provide bonus points on the exam. The solved assignments should be handed in or e-mailed to the teacher responsible by the due date. Each assignment is awarded a maximum of 30 points and 18 points, or more are required for obtaining 1 bonus point. 24 points or more gives 2 bonus points. Thus, a maximum of 8 bonus points for the exam can be obtained.

 

Examination:

The exam is problem-oriented, comprising 6 problems with a maximum score of 10 points each, in total 60 points. For grades 3, 4, and 5, the requirements are 24, 36, and 48 points, respectively. Any bonus points obtained may be included in the total score. (Bonuses become invalid after the three planned exam dates.)

 

The (first) exam date is Saturday 16 January 2026 (afternoon). Check the time and remember to register online (compulsory). Allowed material on the exam is:

 

 

• Textbook
• Printed lecture notes
• Laboratory PM (2)
• Standard Mathematical Tables
• Tefyma
• Physics Handbook
• Beta Mathematical Handbook
• Chalmers-approved calculator

 

 

Note that solved problems, including the Problem booklet and Lab PM are not allowed on the exam.