Patent ID: 8599233

Claim:
A vertical cavity surface emitting laser element including a substrate, a laminated body formed by sandwiching a semiconductor active layer with an upper reflecting mirror and a lower reflecting mirror and positioned on a surface of the substrate, a lower electrode connected to another surface of the substrate opposite to the surface, and an upper electrode connected to an upper surface of the upper reflecting mirror, wherein the upper reflecting mirror and the lower reflecting mirror are respectively fabricated by alternately laminating semiconductor films having different refractive indexes, and the vertical cavity surface emitting laser element emits laser light in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the substrate when an electric current is supplied between the upper electrode and the lower electrode, the vertical cavity surface emitting laser element comprising: a selective oxidation layer in the upper reflecting mirror having a current blocking structure made of an oxidized region and an unoxidized region; and a detectable portion which is formed on a side surface of a mesa structure shaped by the upper reflecting mirror including the selective oxidation layer and the active layer, thereby enabling detecting a position of the selective oxidation layer from a top of the laminated body in a depth direction of the laminated body, wherein the detectable portion is a step shaped by changing a taper angle of a side surface of the mesa structure, wherein the detectable portion is formed at a depth position corresponding to a depth position of the selective oxidation layer from the top of the laminated body at which the taper angle changes between a lower part and an upper part of the mesa structure, wherein an insulating film is formed on the side surface of the mesa structure, and wherein the upper electrode is formed on the insulating film, and a thickness of the upper electrode is greater than a height of the lower part of the mesa structure.