SEMICONDUCTOR LASER ELEMENT AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SAME

Provided is a semiconductor laser element capable of reducing absorption loss and improving efficiency. The semiconductor laser element has an n-side semiconductor layer, an active layer, and a p-side semiconductor layer, each of which is composed of a nitride semiconductor, in this order upward, and the p-side semiconductor layer is provided with a ridge protruding upward. The p-side semiconductor layer has: an undoped first portion that is disposed in contact with the upper surface of the active layer and has one or more semiconductor layers; an electron barrier layer that is disposed in contact with the upper surface of the first portion, has a band gap energy greater than that of the first portion, and contains a p-type impurity; and a second portion disposed in contact with the upper surface of the electron barrier layer and having one or more p-type semiconductor layers containing p-type impurities. The first portion has: an undoped p-side component slope, the layer band gap energy of which increases up