Ultrafast CO2 laser technology: Application in ion acceleration

We review principles of picosecond CO2 lasers, operating at 10 μm wavelength, and their applications for strong-field physics research. Such laser has been used in a number of BNL experiments that explore advanced methods of particle acceleration and X-ray generation. We illustrate merits of the wavelength scaling from optical to mid-IR region by the examples of ion/proton acceleration and report the first experimental results that confirm the expected wavelength scaling of the process.