Patent ID: 7796667

Claim:
A two-dimensional surface-emitting laser array, comprising surface-emitting laser elements arranged in a two-dimensional manner of m rows and n columns, m being an integer of two or larger, n being an integer of three or larger, wherein an interval between a j th column and a (j+1) th column in an m row direction of the surface-emitting laser elements is denoted by D j , wherein a number of electrical wirings passing between a surface-emitting laser element on an i th row and a j th column and a surface-emitting laser element on an i th row and a (j+1) th column is denoted by F ij (for 1≦i≦m, 1≦j≦n−1), wherein a set that includes elements D j , j of which satisfy C j =T (for 1≦j≦n−1, where T is a positive integer) is denoted by g T , where C j is a maximum value among F 1j , F 2j , . . . F mj , wherein at least one pair of a positive integer T 1 and a positive integer T 2 satisfying 0<T 1 <T 2 exists, where neither a set g T1 nor a set g T2 is an empty set, wherein a minimum value of a wiring width of electrical wirings of the surface-emitting laser elements is denoted by E, wherein an element having a minimum value among elements of a set g T is denoted by S T , wherein an average value of the elements of the set g T is denoted by M T , and wherein, for any two of the positive integers T 1 and T 2 satisfying 0<T 1 <T 2 , neither the set g T1 nor the set g T2 is an empty set, and an expression S T2 −M T1 >E ×( T 2 −T 1) is satisfied.