Gianluca Gregori

Professor Gianluca Gregori (Oxford) leads a research programme at the intersection of high energy density physics, laboratory astrophysics, and plasma science. His group uses powerful lasers and advanced diagnostics to replicate in the lab extreme astrophysical and planetary conditions — such as shock waves, turbulence, magnetic field generation, and dense plasmas — enabling controlled studies of phenomena that occur in stars, galaxies or planetary interiors. Gregori’s experiments explore magnetic field amplification (dynamo processes), suppression of heat transport in magnetised plasmas, and particle acceleration in shocks. His recent work, supported by an ERC/Frontier grant, aims to push laboratory astrophysics beyond proof-of-principle into a tool for probing microphysical processes in extreme astrophysical settings (e.g. blazar jets, gamma-ray bursts) that are otherwise inaccessible to observation or simulation.