There is a LaTeX typesetting package, MaTeX, written for such situations by Szabolcs.
<< MaTeX` Plot[x^2, {x, -10, 10}, AxesLabel -> MaTeX /@ {"\\text{$x$ axis}", "a/\\mathrm{GeV}^{-1}"}] 
There is a LaTeX typesetting package, MaTeX, written for such situations by Szabolcs.
<< MaTeX` Plot[x^2, {x, -10, 10}, AxesLabel -> MaTeX /@ {"\\text{$x$ axis}", "a/\\mathrm{GeV}^{-1}"}] 