Patent ID: 8270447

Claim:
A semiconductor light emitting element, comprising: a surface emitting laser, including: a first reflecting mirror; a second reflecting mirror; a first electrode and a second electrode; and an oscillator that is provided between said first reflecting mirror and said second reflecting mirror, wherein the oscillator includes: an active layer; a semiconductor layer between said active layer and said first electrode; a dielectric layer that is provided on said semiconductor layer and through which light from said active layer passes; and a current path restriction layer, and wherein: the first electrode and the second electrode are configured to inject current to the active layer, said first electrode is provided on said semiconductor layer, has an opening through which light from said active layer passes, and comprises a first electrode layer that comes in contact with and is provided on said semiconductor layer, and a second electrode layer that is provided on said first electrode layer, with said first electrode layer having less reactivity with said semiconductor layer than said second electrode layer, said dielectric layer is provided mainly inside said opening such that the end section on the opening side of said first electrode layer extends from the top of said semiconductor layer to the top of said dielectric layer, the oscillator forms a mesapost, said first reflecting mirror is made of multilayered dielectric films and is provided on top of said first electrode and said dielectric layer, and on a side wall of the mesapost, said dielectric layer is a phase adjustment layer for adjusting the phase of a standing wave inside said oscillator, and said current path restriction layer restricts the path of the current that flows between said first electrode and second electrode, and has a first area through which said current flows and a second area that restricts the flow of said current.