Research Professor and Doctoral Supervisor. He graduated from the Department of Power Engineering, Tsinghua University in 1961. Zhou Yuan has been engaged in research on cryogenic engineering technology. He has made pivotal contributions to establishing experimental conditions at liquid helium and liquid hydrogen temperature ranges and their applications, and achieved innovative breakthroughs in research on novel refrigeration technologies. In the 1960s, he pioneered the use of a long-piston expander with direct-drive intake and exhaust valves to replace liquid hydrogen for developing a helium liquefier in China, laying a solid foundation for the advancement of low temperature physical experiments and superconducting technologies. In 1986, he took the lead in launching research on pulse tube refrigerators in China and obtained a series of world-class research achievements. In 1988, he first proposed the two-stage pulse tube refrigeration concept. In 1990, he experimentally verified and revealed the superior performance of the double-inlet pulse tube. In 1992, he put forward an innovative multi-bypass configuration. In 1998, he was the first to integrate the coaxial structure, multi-bypass circuit and asymmetric nozzle into miniature high-frequency pulse tube refrigerators. 

2 National Awards

4 Ministerial-level Awards

The inaugural Hu Gangfu Experimental Physics Prize (Chinese Physical Society)