Patent ID: 8638832

Claim:
A surface emitting laser comprising: a lower multilayer reflective semiconductor mirror formed by a periodic structure having a first low refractive index layer and first high refractive index layer, which has a higher refractive index than the first low refractive index layer; an upper multilayer reflective mirror formed by a periodic structure having a second low refractive index layer and second high refractive index layer, which has a higher refractive index than the second low refractive index layer; an active layer provided between the lower multilayer reflective semiconductor mirror and the upper multilayer reflective mirror; and a lower contact layer that is provided between the active layer and the lower multilayer reflective semiconductor mirror, and on which is formed a lower electrode for supplying current to the active layer, wherein in at least a portion of the lower multilayer reflective semiconductor mirror, the first low refractive index layer and the first high refractive index layer have different conduction types.