I see it the other way around, this problem makes me doubt that this research will ever actually lead anywhere, supposing it's even as good a result as it first appears.
> 2. What are the sources for your opinion?
It's a fact. And my source is dead tree media. I don't recall all the details, but there are some very finicky parts that go into a state of the art warhead and we have lost the capability to manufacture them. Is this really so surprising? We can't even build new F-22s anymore!
This research successfully initiated fusion, using a capsule of hydrogen made of some material, surrounded by something, with an outer layer. This outer layer is turned into X-Rays by the laser, which then ablate the hydrogen capsule's casing casing the inwards pressure. You could speculate, that they just found the makeup for something that would replace the Styrofoam, or we just improved upon it.
Similar to the "we can't make concrete as good as the romans" line of woo. Caveat Emptor
[1] https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/05/fogbank-america...
And that absolutely was not a non-sequitur.
1. How does this research help address this problem?
2. What are the sources for your opinion?