https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170302115744.htm

Breaking it down: Instead of heating up the atoms to the temperatures equivalent to the center of the sun, it would instead use short laser pulses to 'nudge' atoms together so they fuse and generate power in that fashion.

I wrote a longer article on my news site, which is still awaiting approval.

Sounds great. I don't know a lot about photonics and nuclear physics, but using pulses instead of continuous beams should mean a lower energy input to start the nuclear fusion, thus creating a more energy efficient process to start the reaction, right?

Such Technologie is investigated already long ago. It is called "inertness containment of plasma". Small ball of frozen hydrogen is irradiated with the laser pulses on all sides and is evaporated partially. The generated vapour flies away and forms the reactive Impulse that presses the core of ball.