The present disclosure is directed to an illumination device for providing a divergent illumination. The illumination device comprises a light source for emitting light in a visible spectrum; an output aperture, through which the light emitted from the light source exits the illumination device; and a layer structure. The layer structure comprises a scattering layer of a plurality of nanoscale scattering elements embedded in a host material and is positioned in an optical path of the emitted light that extends between the light source and the output aperture. The layer structure comprises further a pair of areal electrical contact layers, wherein the areal electrical contact layers extend at opposite sides of the scattering layer and are electrically connectable with a power source to generate an electric field across the scattering layer. The divergent illumination provided by the illumination device is characterized by at least one luminous intensity distribution curve having the full width at half maximum of at least 10°.