Definitely not. You could divide by ten and you're even too high, sorry ;-)
Unfortunately, most of the diode lasers even do not reach anything near 5000h. Some of them may be rated for something like that, but in reality they never reach it, not even close. If you don't believe it, ask the people who are maintaining show lasers and CD-Players. The diode laser of a CD-Player is almost everytime the very first failure. Believe me, 5000h or even more for a diode laser ist not realistic, especially not for high-powered ones. Every semiconductor material has a limited lifetime. Of course it depends mostly on the power it is driven with (actually it is the temperature, but more power means always higher temperatures), and specs of the manufacturers are mostly given as good as possible because the lasers should be selled ;-) This means, power specs are always compromised with lifetime.
Diode lifetime depends greatly on intended use and temperature. diodes in typical use are not made to the same standard as lab diodes, and they are not cooled or protected in any way for starters. so they do tend to have short lives. Diodes made for scientific use and that are cooled to operating temperature (usually ~20C/68F) generally last incredibly long times-well beyond 10K. I have several that are well past the 10K mark (though exact count unknown as they're the old marked-wire timers and they've over-spooled on the 10K side) and are only now starting to get weak, including my D3 which is from the mid 90s. Show lasers and many other lasers are generally run warmer (~25-30C or even higher sometimes) and at much higher current levels and tend to burn up quite fast due to being modulated in a non constant way, which causes thermal shock on the tiny emitter. For every degree they rise, their lifetime is typically shortened significantly. As you stated, its a strong function of temperature and operating current. I've read several papers on this subject, sadly I'd have to go track them down as they're not all handy atm. Manufacturers dont just make stuff up. if they didn't last a long time, fiber optic wouldn't be practical...some of those emitters last several tens of thousands of hours. Also consider that not all units are the same, some last longer than others just by pure chance too.
Sam's LaserFAQ even says for that:
Source:
Sam's Laser FAQ - Diode Lasers
Very good HeNe's really reach 20000h, and that is unbeaten by any other common laser.
Again Sam's LaserFAQ:
Source:
Sam's Laser FAQ - Helium-Neon Lasers
and:
Source:
Sam's Laser FAQ - Helium-Neon Lasers
Best regards
argon
I didn't deny that they could reach higher, but they are spec'd for 10K MTBF, as per pretty much every spec sheet out there - and as most don't have an hour meter, its hard to prove how long they run. I have some that look quite messy even after minimal running, and others that are sparkling from the same amount of time. No two tubes are identical, and trust me I know a lot about HeNe aging, as I have tons of them all in different states of life, as well as several unfinished, and several I'm re-gassing from leakage. I've talked with people who used to make them, and even made a few myself. I'd wager many reach 15k, but honestly, if they're run only for short times here and there, they can last nearly forever - pretty much indeterminate amounts of time. I have some from the 70s and 80s that still work, and sam has a few from the 60s that still barely run!
ultimately it still is a moot point though, as it still boils down to one thing I mentioned before:
They're a great beam for the cost. and none of this disproves my statement about stability. Ultimately they cannot reach the same levels of stability as a diode laser without being incredibly tiny, and thus virtually no power output. Stabilized HeNes are limited in size, thus cannot go beyond low powers, depending on the stabilizing method. If gas was better, things like the Coherent Verdi wouldn't exist.
