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could sonoluminescence work?
I don't think it generates enough radiation to satisfy the Lawson criterion. I also think I made the process of staging nuclear reactions sound too easy. It is true that the Russians once exploded a two stage fission-fusion-fusion bomb, but a nuclear bomb of that size generates plenty of excess radiation to trigger subsequent fusion reactions. For a smaller nuclear explosion, such as that triggered inside a chamber by a laser implosion device, it might not be enough. Most fusion reactors try to achieve self-sustaining fusion, that is once fusion starts, the process continues for as long as there is fusion fuel. If there is not enough fusion, then the process doesn't sustain itself. The energy generated needs to exceed the energy loss and meet the Lawson criterion for sustaining the fusion reaction, this has proven not to be easy within the regime of a controlled fusion reaction. For Inertial confinement, this means that each explosion triggers more explosions, for magnetic confinement, this means that the fusion reaction keeps the plasma hot enough for fusion to continue for as long as there is fusion fuel within the plasma.
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