Patent ID: 7352416

Claim:
A liquid crystal display element in a projection type liquid crystal display unit, comprising two substrates of a reflection substrate and a transparent substrate, and a liquid crystal layer formed of liquid crystal molecules interposed between said two substrates, wherein a plurality of pixels and active elements for driving the liquid crystal molecules at the plurality of pixels, are incorporated in at least one of the two substrates, and wherein a projection light beam is incident upon and emergent from the liquid crystal layer through the transparent substrate, and the projection light beam is modulated by the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer so that the projection light beam is led and reflected within the liquid crystal layer in directions which lie in a plane which is substantially perpendicular to a direction of orientation of the liquid crystal molecules at at least one of the two substrates, and the light beam impinges upon the liquid crystal layer in a direction which is inclined by a predetermined angle other than zero degrees to a direction of a normal line of the transparent substrate, and a direction of polarization of the incident light beam upon the liquid crystal layer is substantially perpendicular or parallel to the direction of the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules.