Patent ID: 8290009

Claim:
A vertical cavity surface emitting laser comprising a layer-stack structure including, on a substrate, a transverse-mode adjustment layer, a first multilayer reflecting mirror, an active layer having a light emission region, and a second multilayer reflecting mirror in order from the substrate side, and including a current confinement layer in which a current injection region is formed in a region corresponding to the light emission region in the first multilayer reflecting mirror, between the first multilayer reflecting mirror and the active layer, between the active layer and the second multilayer reflecting mirror, or in the second multilayer reflecting mirror, wherein in the transverse-mode adjustment layer, reflectance at an oscillation wavelength in a region opposite to a center of the light emission region is higher than that at an oscillation wavelength in the region opposite to an outer edge of the light emission region, wherein the transverse-mode adjustment layer has a gap at least in a region opposite to the light emission region, and wherein the transverse-mode adjustment layer has a first metal layer which is in contact with the substrate and a second metal layer which is in contact with the first multilayer reflecting mirror in a region which does not face the light emission region, and the first and second metal layers are joined to each other by adhesion.