Gregor Birkenmeier

Dr. Gregor Birkenmeier is a Senior Lecturer and research group leader at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), affiliated with the Department of Physics within the TUM School of Natural Sciences. Since 2012, he has been a research associate at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) in Garching, where he led a Helmholtz Young Investigator Group from 2018 to 2023. Since 2023, he has held the title of private lecturer at TUM, and since 2024, he leads the 'Plasma Turbulence and Turbulent Transport' research group.

His research focuses on experimental investigations of turbulence in fusion plasmas, particularly in stellarators, with an emphasis on energy confinement and transport phenomena. He develops novel plasma diagnostics and validates experimental results through comparison with simulations. His work contributes to the fundamental understanding of plasma behavior in magnetic confinement fusion devices.

Dr. Birkenmeier teaches Plasma Physics I in the winter semester and Plasma Physics II in the summer semester, along with a seminar on plasma physics and fusion research. He also supervises university internships and participates in public outreach, conferences, and workshops.

His research group, 'Plasma Turbulence and Turbulent Transport,' operates at the intersection of experimental plasma physics and computational modeling, aiming to uncover the mechanisms behind self-organized structures and nonlinear dynamics at the plasma edge. The group collaborates closely with IPP and contributes to broader fusion energy research initiatives.