SURFACE EMITTING LASER ELEMENT, SURFACE EMITTING LASER ARRAY, OPTICAL SCANNER, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND MANUFACTURING METHOD OF SURFACE EMITTING LASER ELEMENT

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a surface emitting laser element capable of suppressing oscillation in a higher order lateral mode without deterioration of light output in a basic lateral mode.SOLUTION: A surface emitting laser element includes a transparent dielectric layer which is provided within an emission area, and in which reflectivity in a peripheral portion and reflectivity in a central portion in the emission area are different from each other. Thicknesses of a contact layer 109 are different from each other in a region with the relatively high reflectivity and in a region with the relatively low reflectivity within the emission area. A contact layer is provided on an outermost surface high refractive index layer of an upper semiconductor DBR. In the region with the relatively low reflectivity, an optical thickness of a combination of the outermost surface high refractive index layer and the contact layer 109 shifts from odd number times of a quarter an oscillation wavelength.