A surface emitting laser includes an active layer disposed on a semiconductor substrate, and a pair of upper and lower electrodes for injecting carriers into the active layer. The plane surface of the lower electrode is shaped into a star so that injection of current into the active layer from the lower electrode is carried out with a high density at the center of the lower electrode and with a low density at its periphery part. In the surface emitting laser, the density distribution of the carriers injected into the active layer corresponds to the power distribution of light inside the active layer. Thereby, hole burning due to an increase in the current density in the region of the active layer corresponding to the peripheral part of the electrode is avoided, and the transverse mode stability during high output operation is significantly enhanced to improve high-output characteristic.