A surface emitting laser includes a pair of multilayer mirrors disposed opposing to each other, and an active layer disposed between the multilayer mirrors. In at least one multilayer mirror of the pair of multilayer mirrors, a plurality of first pair layers are stacked, each first pair layer is formed from a high-refractive index layer having a first strain and a low-refractive index layer having a second strain; and a second pair layer is included, the second pair layer is formed of one of the high-refractive index layer and the low-refractive index layer of the first pair layer in which one of the high-refractive index layer and the low-refractive index layer of the first pair layer is replaced with a layer formed from a quaternary or higher mixed crystal semiconductor material having a third strain.