Patent ID: 7433378

Claim:
An optical element comprising: a substrate; a surface-emitting type semiconductor laser that is provided on the substrate and emits laser light in a direction orthogonal to a surface of the substrate; a rectification element that is provided on the substrate, connected in parallel with the surface-emitting type semiconductor laser, and having a rectification action with respect to a reverse bias voltage applied to the surface-emitting type semiconductor laser, the rectification element including a semiconductor layer disposed on a contact layer, the semiconductor layer having a smaller width than the contact layer such that a top surface of the contact layer is exposed adjacent to the semiconductor layer; a first insulation layer that covers a side surface and a portion of an upper surface of a first columnar section including at least a portion of the surface-emitting type semiconductor laser; and a second insulation layer that covers a side surface and an upper surface of a second columnar section including at least a portion of the rectification element along an entire circumference thereof, the second columnar section including at least the contact layer and the semiconductor layer with the second insulation layer extending over and covering the exposed top surface of the contact layer adjacent to the semiconductor layer; wherein the first insulation layer and the second insulation layer form continuously and fill between the first columnar section and the second columnar section; and an electrode extends from the first columnar section to the second columnar section and is disposed on the first insulation layer and the second insulation layer.