A near-eye display device includes (a) a display unit having a liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCOS) display and a first polarizing beam splitter interface for (i) reflecting illumination light from an illumination module towards the liquid-crystal-on-silicon display and (ii) transmitting display light from the LCOS display based on the illumination light, and (b) a viewing unit having an imaging objective that forms an image of the LCOS display for the pupil based on the display light, and a second polarizing beam splitter interface for (i) reflecting reflected display light from the imaging objective towards the pupil and (ii) transmitting ambient light from an ambient scene towards a pupil, the second polarizing beam splitter interface and the first polarizing beam splitter interface being orthogonal to a common plane.