The invention concerns a light source utilizing an array (20, 50) of light
emitting elements (22). The elements may be light emitting diodes. A fresnel
prism (32, 56) is disposed in front of the array to receive light from it.
The prism serves to divert light from the array along a direction (28, 54)
oblique to the array, the diverted light forming an output beam. The array has
a depth. The output beam from the prism has a depth which, measured in the same
plane as the array depth but perpendicular to the beam direction, is smaller than
the depth of the array. Hence a deep array provides a shallower output light beam
in a manner which is convenient with regard to packaging requirements.