A broadband partial reflector comprising: a first multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 210) having a total number of optical repeating units (102, 104; ORU1-ORU6) from a first side to a second side of the first multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 210), the first multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 210) having a first baseline optical repeating unit thickness profile and a first apodized optical repeating unit thickness profile monotonically deviating from the first baseline optical repeating unit thickness profile and defining the second side of the first multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 210); an intermediate layer on the second side of the first multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 210); and a second multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 260) having a total number of optical repeating units (102, 104; ORU1-ORU6) from a first side to a second side of the second multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 260), the second multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 260) having a second baseline optical repeating unit thickness profile and a second apodized optical repeating unit thickness profile monotonically deviating from the second baseline optical repeating unit thickness profile and defining the first side of the second multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 260), and the first side of the second multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 260) on the intermediate layer, the intermediate layer separates the first multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 210) from the second multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 260); characterized in that the first apodized optical repeating unit thickness profile is exponentially deviating from the first baseline optical repeating unit thickness profile and the second apodized optical repeating unit thickness profile is exponentially deviating from the second baseline optical repeating unit thickness profile. a first multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 210) having a total number of optical repeating units (102, 104; ORU1-ORU6) from a first side to a second side of the first multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 210), the first multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 210) having a first baseline optical repeating unit thickness profile and a first apodized optical repeating unit thickness profile monotonically deviating from the first baseline optical repeating unit thickness profile and defining the second side of the first multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 210); an intermediate layer on the second side of the first multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 210); and a second multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 260) having a total number of optical repeating units (102, 104; ORU1-ORU6) from a first side to a second side of the second multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 260), the second multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 260) having a second baseline optical repeating unit thickness profile and a second apodized optical repeating unit thickness profile monotonically deviating from the second baseline optical repeating unit thickness profile and defining the first side of the second multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 260), and the first side of the second multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 260) on the intermediate layer, the intermediate layer separates the first multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 210) from the second multilayer polymeric optical film (110; 260); characterized in that the first apodized optical repeating unit thickness profile is exponentially deviating from the first baseline optical repeating unit thickness profile and the second apodized optical repeating unit thickness profile is exponentially deviating from the second baseline optical repeating unit thickness profile.