A light emitting apparatus includes optical thyristors, a driver circuit that supplies a drive current to the thyristors so that the thyristors emit light, and a control circuit that controls the thyristors. Each thyristor includes an anode, a cathode connected to the ground, and a gate. The thyristor emits light when the drive current flows therethrough. The control circuit controls the gate, causing a control current to flow from the anode to the gate to turn on the thyristors. The control circuit applies a control voltage to the gate, the control voltage being higher than a voltage appearing across the gate and the cathode when the thyristor remains turned on.