A light emitting element according to an embodiment of the invention includes a
semiconductor substrate, a light emitting part having a first
conductivity type first cladding layer; a second
conductivity type second cladding layer different from the first cladding layer in the
conductivity type and an
active layer sandwiched between the first cladding layer and the second cladding layer, a reflecting part for reflecting a light emitted from the
active layer, disposed between the
semiconductor substrate and the light emitting part so as to have a thickness of 1.7 μm to 8.0 μm and an
electric current dispersing layer disposed on a side of the light emitting part opposite to the reflecting part, having a uneven part on the surface thereof, wherein the reflecting part is formed so as to have at least three pair
layers formed of a first
semiconductor layer and a second semiconductor layer different from the first semiconductor layer, the first semiconductor layer has a thickness TA defined by the formula (1), if peak
wavelength of the light emitted from the
active layer is λP,
refractive index of the first semiconductor layer is nA,
refractive index of the second semiconductor layer is nB,
refractive index of the first cladding layer is nIn, and incident angle of light to the second semiconductor layer is θ, the second semiconductor layer has a thickness TB defined by the formula (2), and a plurality of pair
layers of the reflecting part have a different thickness to each other according as values of the incident angle of light θ in the formulae (1) and (2) are different with respect to each pair layer, and at least one pair layer includes the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer defined by that the incident angle of light θ is not less than 50 degrees.TA=λp4nA1-(nInsinθnA)2(1)TB=λp4nB1-(nInsinθnB)2(2)