A beamsplitter is an optical component used to split a beam of incident light into two parts in a laser or illumination system. Cube beamsplitters consist of a pair of precision right-angle prisms carefully cemented or optically contacted together. The hypotenuse of one of the prisms is coated with polarizing or non-polarizing beamsplitter coating and four sides of the cube are AR coated to minimize surface reflection losses. Plate beamsplitters feature a coated front surface that determines the beamsplitting ratio, while the wedged back surface is AR coated to minimize ghosting. Dichroic beamsplitters are wavelength dependent and are used to combine or split laser beams in a variety of colors. Laser beam attenuators provide high resolution intensity control without introducing a gradient in the intensity distribution or a change in the beam propagation direction.