Yes and no. If one can burn the fuel/air mixture at a lower temperature, but faster, less NO2 is formed, but you get an increase in overall thermal efficiency from the shorter burn time.
Even in current generation engines, the single point ignition at the to of a cylinder is the least efficient way to burn fuel.
For maximum efficiency, one wants to burn all the fuel at the same instant. This generates the greatest thermal efficiency.
A plug initiated burn takes quite a while, relative to the piston cycle time.
So initiating burning over a larger volume does two things:
1) Reduces the burn time to increase thermal efficiency
2) Burns more of the available fuel that would otherwise go out the tailpipe unburned.
So yes, I believe the fuel efficiency numbers. What I have an issue with is keeping the laser path free of post combustion products over the life of the engine. Gunk & carbon buildup will kill this system if they are not addressed.
I don't think that is true. A steady push on a moving pistons tends to be better than a instantaneous explosion then waiting for the revolution to complete the cycle.
Higher octane fuels provide resistance to self ignition, igniting too early in the cycle. These fuels used for higher performance engines are not designed to burn more rapidly.