A manufacturing method for a vertical cavity surface emitting laser includes steps of forming, on a substrate, a multilayer body including first and second Distributed Bragg Reflector layers, an active layer, and a to-be-oxidized layer becoming a current constriction structure, processing the multilayer body such that a lateral surface of at least the to-be-oxidized layer is exposed, and forming a current constriction structure by oxidizing the to-be-oxidized layer from the lateral surface thereof after the multilayer body has been processed. The step of forming the current constriction structure includes steps of holding the substrate to be positioned along a uniformly-heated plate that is placed on a heat conduction member, and to be spaced from the uniformly-heated plate, and heating the substrate by radiant heat from the uniformly-heated plate by heating the heat conduction member.