Thin film optical coatings play an important role for the design of optical components to be used in the laser field. In particular, optical components with graded coatings allow the improvement of the quality of the laser beam without introducing inside the cavity additional optical elements. A number of coated optical components, useful to this end, are described and thin film multilayer stacks, capable of giving the required performance, are designed taking advantage of the possibility of tailoring the film thickness along the sample surface. Three different components to be used either inside or outside the laser cavity are proposed for a XeCl excimer laser.