This document provides an overview of the topics to be covered in optical communication systems including: types of optical communication systems and their components, optical fiber properties like attenuation, dispersion and nonlinearity, optical receivers and amplifiers, and optical filters and passive components. It also lists relevant textbooks and references. The document then begins covering historical perspectives and motivations for optical communication systems before discussing specific optical and fiber optic concepts like the electromagnetic spectrum, light propagation, ray theory, numerical aperture, and example problems calculating fiber properties.