VERTICAL-RESONATOR-TYPE LIGHT-EMITTING ELEMENT

To provide a vertical cavity light-emitting element capable of stably emitting a light having a specific polarization direction. A vertical cavity light-emitting element of the present invention includes a gallium-nitride-based semiconductor substrate, a first multilayer reflector, a semiconductor structure layer, a second multilayer reflector, and a current confinement structure. The first multilayer reflector is formed on the substrate. The semiconductor structure layer includes a first semiconductor layer, an active layer, and a second semiconductor layer. The first semiconductor layer having a first conductivity type is formed on the first multilayer reflector. The active layer is formed on the first semiconductor layer. The second semiconductor layer is formed on the active layer and has a second conductivity type opposite to the first conductivity type. The second multilayer reflector is formed on the semiconductor structure layer and constitutes a resonator with the first multilayer reflector. The current confinement structure is formed between the first multilayer reflector and the second multilayer reflector to concentrate a current in one region of the active layer. A diffraction grating is formed in a region overlapping with the one region when viewed from a normal direction of an upper surface of the substrate. The diffraction grating is made of a plurality of slit structures parallel to each other.