Patent ID: 7519095

Claim:
A vertical-cavity, surface-emission-type laser diode comprising: a semiconductor substrate; and an optical cavity structure provided on or above said semiconductor substrate, said optical cavity structure comprising an active region containing at least one active layer that produces a laser beam, and upper and lower reflectors sandwiching said active region to form said optical cavity, said at least one active layer containing nitrogen therein, said lower reflector including a semiconductor distributed Bragg reflector having a refractive index that changes periodically, said lower reflector reflecting an optical beam incident thereto by diffraction, said semiconductor distributed Bragg reflector comprising a low-refractive-index layer of Al x Ga 1-x As (0<x≦1) and a high-refractive-index layer of Al y Ga 1-y As (0<x≦1), wherein Ga x In 1-x P y As 1-y (0<x≦1, 0<y≦1) layer is provided between said active layer and said lower reflector including an interface between said lower reflector and said active region.