You know we tested fusion bombs as early as the 50s? They've been around quite a while. Also, very few reactors use lasers. The laser system at NIF is actually

You know we tested fusion bombs as early as the 50s? They've been around quite a while. Also, very few reactors use lasers. The laser system at NIF is actually entirely meant to physically emulate what fusion bombs are like without having to build one and set it off. Reactors typically use magnetic fields instead of lasers, because the approach is much more scalable to things like power generation.