Patent ID: 8035676

Claim:
A surface emitting laser element which emits a laser beam in a direction perpendicular to a surface of a substrate of the surface emitting laser element, wherein a normal direction of a principal surface of the substrate is inclined to one direction of a [1 1 1] crystal orientation relative to one direction of a [1 0 0] crystal orientation, and the surface emitting laser element includes: a resonator structural body including an active layer; first and second semiconductor distributed Bragg reflectors which sandwich the resonator structural body and include a confinement structure in which a current passing through region is surrounded by an oxidized layer formed by oxidizing a part of a layer to be selectively oxidized containing at least aluminum; and a plurality of semiconductor layers stacked on the substrate, wherein a shape of the current passing through region is symmetrical to a first axis which is orthogonal to one direction of the [1 0 0] crystal orientation and one direction of the [1 1 1] crystal orientation, is parallel to the surface of the substrate, and passes through a center of the current passing through region; and is symmetrical to a second axis which is orthogonal to the normal direction and the first axis and passes through the center of the current passing through region; a length of the current passing through region in the first axis direction is different from a length in the second axis direction; a thickness of the oxidized layer surrounding the current passing through region is different between in a direction parallel to the second axis direction and in a direction parallel to the first axis direction; and a radiation angle of the laser beam in the first axis direction is the same as a radiation angle of the laser beam in the second axis direction.