[erickejah (OP)]

https://lasers.llnl.gov/

This artist's rendering shows a NIF target pellet inside a hohlraum capsule with laser beams entering through openings on either end.  The beams compress and heat the target to the necessary conditions for nuclear fusion to occur. Ignition experiments on NIF will be the culmination of more than 30 years of inertial confinement fusion research and development, opening the door to exploration of previously inaccessible physical regimes.

"Credit is given to Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the Department of Energy under whose auspices this work was performed."

[Chemistry4me]

I don't know but I hope they don't

[syhprum]

It is very sad that the main result of this massive effort will be to increase the efficiency of nuclear bombs.

[Soul Surfer]

This technology is not useful for weapons, the lasers are far too big and exprnsive it might however offer a good source of pollution free energy as an alternative to sunlight and is absolutely essential if it is wished to operate starships.

[JP]

You can't make a star this way.  Stars are held together by gravity and undergo fusion because of the gravitational pressure.  These types of laser experiments use lasers to provide the necessary temperature and pressure for fusion.  A star will keep fusing on its own until it "burns" off enough mass to stop.  Laser fusion will stop on its own when you turn the lasers off.

[Soul Surfer]

I agree that it is a rather bad misnomer particularly when discussions of fusion energy have been around for a long time.  I am also not sure that high energy pulses are a good idea when contonuous processes seem almost to be there