Energy directly acquired by an electron from the laser electromagnetic field is quadratically proportional to the laser wavelength. Exploiting this feature, the emerging terawatt picosecond (TWps) CO 2 lasers, having an order of magnitude longer wavelength than the well-known table-top terawatt (T 3) picosecond solid state lasers, offer new opportunities for strong-field physics research. Laser accelerators serve as an example where application of the new class of lasers will result in enhancement in gas ionization, plasma wave excitation, and relativistic self-focusing. Ponderomotively strong CO 2 laser permits a 100 times reduction in the plasma density without impeding the acceleration. The improved performance of the low-pressure laser wakefield accelerators (LWFA) is potentially due to higher electric charge per accelerated bunch and better monochromaticity. The multi-kilowatt average power, high repetition rate capability of the TWps-CO 2 laser technology opens new opportunities in development of compact, ∼1 m long, GeV accelerators and <1 km long high-luminosity multi-stage LWFA colliders of the TeV scale. The first TWps-CO 2 laser is under construction at the BNL Accelerator Test Facility (ATF).