Patent ID: 8265114

Claim:
A surface emitting laser comprising a laminated structure in which, on a substrate, a two-dimensional photonic crystal having a resonance mode in an in-plane direction of the substrate, an optical waveguiding layer, and a cladding layer for light confinement provided between the optical waveguiding layer and the substrate are laminated, wherein the laminated structure includes a first region having at least one guided mode as a propagation mode in which light is propagated in the in-plane direction at a laser oscillation wavelength and a second region having a substrate radiation mode in which light is emitted to a side of the substrate at the laser oscillation wavelength, wherein the first region includes the two-dimensional photonic crystal, wherein the cladding layer has an uneven thickness in an in-plane direction of the substrate, and wherein a first cladding layer portion included in the first region has a larger thickness than a second cladding layer portion included in the second region.