The work from Rochester mentioned briefly is probably the second best performing fusion experiment and this was done with a laser that's at least 29 years old.

The work from Rochester mentioned briefly is probably the second best performing fusion experiment and this was done with a laser that's at least 29 years old. What the article doesn't mention is that the approach demonstrated could decrease the cost of fuel pellets. In NIF, the laser energy is converted to X-rays which compress the fuel pellet using expensive elements like gold. What they demonstrated is that the fuel pellet can be imploded directly with the lasers.