A VCSEL formed on a substrate with an upper mirror stack etched to form a mesa shaped area with material positioned on the upper mirror stack including optically transparent, electrically conductive material defining an electrical contact window to control current distribution within the laser, and material positioned on the surface of the mesa shaped area with an optical thickness selected to provide a desired mirror reflectivity profile which controls the optical mode independently of the mesa edges, thereby, providing separate control of the current and the optical mode.