A light control element includes a substrate, an optical coupling component formed on the substrate by a photonic crystal structure, and a variable refractive index part provided in a part of the photonic crystal structure so as to divide The optical coupling component into two regions, wherein a traveling direction of a light is changed at an interface of the regions by changing a refractive index at the variable refractive index part such that there is caused a reflection for at least one wavenumber of the light.