Patent ID: 8520712

Claim:
A laser diode, on a semiconductor substrate, comprising: an active layer; one or a plurality of strip-shaped current confinement structures confining a current which is injected into the active layer; and a stacked structure including a plurality of strip-shaped convex portions extending in an extending direction of the current confinement structure, wherein, the stacked structure includes a first conductive semiconductor layer, the active layer, and a second conductive semiconductor layer in this order from the semiconductor substrate, the plurality of convex portions are formed in at least the second conductive semiconductor layer, a concave portion is between respective convex portions and extends through more than one layer of the stacked structure, and the current confinement structure is a ridge and the plurality of convex portions (a) are formed within the ridge, (b) are disposed along a same surface of the second conductive semiconductor layer, and (c) project to a side opposite from the semiconductor substrate.