Don’t need to be too coy about the fact that NIF was built to recreate the processes inside an H-bomb after underground nuclear testing was banned. They literal

Don’t need to be too coy about the fact that NIF was built to recreate the processes inside an H-bomb after underground nuclear testing was banned. They literally use the same concept of a “Hohlraum” (here in miniature) where heat and light (from a fission trigger in the case on an H-bomb, lasers in the case of NIF) convert to x-rays on the outer casing and evenly illuminate the fuel pellet casing which ablates a bit to drive implosion which triggers the actual compression heating of the fuel pellet. Heck, some previous tests even used a uranium tamper (because in part, uranium has high inertia due its density thus prolonging the period of high pressure), just like a real H-bomb.