A Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) including a light emitting III-nitride active region including quantum wells (QWs), wherein each of the quantum wells have a thickness of more than 8 nm, a cavity length of at least 7 λ, or at least 20 λ, where lambda is a peak wavelength of the light emitted from the active region, layers with reduced surface roughness, a tunnel junction intracavity contact. The VCSEL is flip chip bonded using In—Au bonding. This is the first report of a VCSEL capable of continuous wave operation.