An optical assembly utilizing a novel optical element. The assembly includes a tunable source of input radiation; an optical element that can receive at least a portion of the input radiation and comprises a manifold having at least two independent surfaces, in which at least a portion of each independent surface is selected from the group consisting of a reflective structure and a diffractive structure, and the independent surfaces are geometrically configured so that a portion of incident radiation to the manifold is diffracted at least twice in an angular sense that can increase a tuning sensitivity of an angular deviation of the incident radiation exiting the manifold; and, a scanner means which can accept and redirect a portion of the radiation output by the optical element for producing an illumination pattern.