[noobermin]

You have to understand. I got a PhD in this field. For years, scientists in droves stopped applying for grants saying they were actually doing fusion because funding sources just lost faith in the effort. ICF requires a lot more investment in capital to run than MCF generally, it seems. These scientists moved on to study things like novel radiation and ion beam sources (which similar laser-plasma interactions provide) but they stopped going for fusion specifically because the government just lost faith in the effort. Now, the pendulum will swing.

The answer is yes, we can use more efficient lasers. If you ever are lucky enough to get a tour of NIF, they have a cute little exhibit where they show you if they redesigned NIF with modern technology, they could fit the three football field machine into something the size of a table. That display itself is likely 10 years old by now, and laser science has advanced even beyond it. Now that NIF has proven it's possible, I imagine there will finally be money in fusion again (ICF specifically, if I were in MCF I'd be worried sick now) and someone somewhere will make the newer NIF that won't be just taking 300MJ in and 2MJ out.