Patent ID: 7244629

Claim:
A vertical cavity surface emitting laser diode, comprising: a substrate; a semiconductor active layer which is formed on a principal face of the substrate and has a light emitting region; a first semiconductor multi-layered reflecting mirror and a second semiconductor multi-layered reflecting mirror which sandwich the semiconductor active layer to form an optical cavity in a direction perpendicular to the substrate, the first semiconductor multi-layered reflecting mirror being formed on an opposite side of the semiconductor active layer from the substrate and the second semiconductor multi-layered reflecting mirror being formed on a side of the substrate to the semiconductor active layer; a pair of electrodes configured to inject current into the semiconductor active layer; a current confinement portion which is formed in the vicinity of the semiconductor active layer and has a plurality of layers to be oxidized including Al; a recessed portion which has a groove depth reaching at least the uppermost layer of the layers to be oxidized; and a mesa portion which is surrounded by the recess portion, the current confinement portion including first and second current confinement portions, the first current confinement portion having a first number of layers to be oxidized having side portions which have been oxidized and the second current confinement portion having a second number of layers to be oxidized having side portions which have been oxidized, the first number being different from the second number, and the first and second current confinement portions being arranged so as to be substantially orthogonal to each other.