A vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) is disclosed that has a relatively low vertical resistance between the Ohmic contact to the upper distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) and the active layer, and a structure to substantially confine the current flow to the laser cavity so that the VCSEL can produce a more efficient and substantially single-mode output. In particular, the VCSEL includes a substrate, a lower DBR disposed over the substrate, an active layer disposed over the lower DBR, and an upper DBR. The upper DBR includes a groove and an Ohmic contact situated within the groove to lower the vertical resistance between the contact and the active layer. An ion implanted layer is also formed along the side wall of the active layer to substantially confine the current flow to the laser cavity.