Patent ID: 8441511

Claim:
A surface-emitting laser element comprising: a substrate; multiple semiconductor layers stacked on the substrate, the semiconductor layers including a resonator structure including an active layer, a semiconductor multilayer mirror on the resonator structure, a confined structure where a current passage region s enclosed by at least an oxide generated by oxidation of a part of a selective oxidation layer containing aluminum; an electrode provided around an emission region of a light-emitting surface; and a dielectric film provided in a peripheral portion within the emission region and outside a central portion of the emission region to make a reflectance of the peripheral portion lower than a reflectance of the central portion, wherein the dielectric film is arranged such that a reflectance of a high-order transverse mode of a laser beam in a second direction perpendicular to a first direction is higher than a reflectance of the high-order transverse mode of the laser beam in the first direction, and wherein a width of the current passage region in the first direction is greater than a width of the current passage region in the second direction.