SURFACE-EMITTING LASER, SURFACE-EMITTING LASER ARRAY, OPTICAL SCANNING APPARATUS, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS

摘要

A surface-emitting laser includes a substrate; a lower semiconductor multilayer film reflector disposed on the substrate; a resonator structure including an active layer and disposed on the lower semiconductor multilayer film reflector; and an upper semiconductor multilayer film reflector disposed on the resonator structure. The second semiconductor multilayer film reflector includes a confinement structure in which a current passage region is surrounded by an oxidized portion of a selectively oxidized layer containing aluminum. An emission region includes a central portion and a peripheral portion, the peripheral portion being covered with a transparent dielectric film whose reflectivity is lower than a reflectivity of the central portion. The selectively oxidized layer has a thickness in a range from 30 nm to 40 nm. The temperature at which an oscillation threshold current is minimized is 60° C. or lower.