The Arcoptix electrical adjustable variable attenuator is a worldwide unique liquid crystal device that permits to control precisely the attenuation of a free space traveling beam with a simple applied voltage. The variable gray filter functions for polychromatic or monochromatic light as well as for unpolarized or polarized white light. It does not significantly alter the spectrum of the incident light and functions almost equally for wavelengths between 350nm and 700nm. The Arcoptix variable attenuator can so be considered as an ideal variable gay filter in the visible. Notice that this is not the case for usual liquid crystal attenuators that are designed to attenuate efficiently only a single wavelength! Also in the off state the Arcoptix attenuator shows a higher transmission (for unpolarized light) than usual attenuators and it does not alter significantely the polarization state of the light (polarization maintaining element).
