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A beam splitter is an optical component, typically a mirror or prism, used to divide a beam of radiation into two or more parts. These components can serve both reflective and transmissive functions.1

In optical systems, beam splitters are crucial for applications such as color television cameras, where they divide light into red, green, and blue components for separate image tubes. They are a type of reflecting prism that incorporates a surface that is both semi-reflecting and semi-transmitting.2

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