The liquid crystal display element and a display device using the same

The invention relates to a liquid crystal display element comprising two transparent substrates at least one of which is transparent and a liquid crystal layer (111) interposed between said two substrates, wherein a plurality of pixels and active elements for driving the liquid crystal at the plurality of pixels, are incorporated to at least one of the two substrates, characterized in that an optical axis of an incident light beam (105) upon the liquid crystal layer (111) is present in a plane which is substantially perpendicular to a direction of orientation of liquid crystal molecules (101) on at least one of the two substrates, and the incident light impinges upon the liquid crystal layer (111) in a direction which is inclined by a predetermined angle to the direction of the normal line of the substrate. With this arrangement, a desired phase modulation can be obtained through slight motion of the liquid crystal molecules (101), thereby it is possible to greatly reduce the liquid crystal drive voltage.