Heat dissipative and lightweight optical elements having increased strength and stiffness

An optical element comprising:

• a substrate;
• a first anisotropic polymer thin film laminated to a first surface of the substrate;
• and
• a second anisotropic polymer thin film laminated to the first anisotropic polymer thin film,
• wherein the first anisotropic polymer thin film has a first in-plane orientation of crystalline axes, and the second anisotropic polymer thin film has a second in-plane orientation of crystalline axes such that the crystalline axes of the first and second anisotropic polymer thin films are rotationally misoriented in-plane by an angle (q), where 0 < q ≤ 90°, and each of the first and second anisotropic polymer thin films has:
• transparency within a visible spectrum of at least 80%;
• bulk haze of less than 5%;
• and
• an in-plane elastic modulus of at least a 10 GPa.