An optical element 10, suitable for directing transmission and emission of light, comprises a light extraction feature in the form of a line scattering feature 11. The element may comprise a lightguide which transmits light shone into a first end 20 in an axial direction, with light emitted from the lightguide at the line scattering feature. A length characteristic dimension of the features 11 may be aligned transverse to the lightguide. Alternatively the features 11 may be arranged skew to the axial direction of the lightguide. The features may comprise a plurality of adjoining segments which describe a scattering area. The features may be arranged such that the length or area of the features increases with axial distance. The features may be arranged into different groups with different distributions, for example arranged axially with uniform pitch or such that separation decreases with axial distance. The element may allow fine control over light emission, particularly the resultant illumination profile along the optical element 10.
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