In nuclear energy applications, xenon is used in bubble chambers, probes, and in other areas where a high molecular weight and inert nature is desirable. A by-product of nuclear weapon testing is the release of radioactive xenon-133 and xenon-135. The detection of these isotopes is used to monitor compliance with nuclear test ban treaties, as well as to confirm nuclear test explosions by states such as North Korea.
Liquid xenon is being used in calorimeters for measurements of gamma rays as well as a medium for detecting hypothetical weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs. When a WIMP collides with a xenon nucleus, it should, theoretically, strip an electron and create a primary scintillation. By using xenon, this burst of energy could then be readily distinguished from similar events caused by particles such as cosmic rays. However, the XENON experiment at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy and the ZEPLIN-II and ZEPLIN-III experiments at the Boulby Underground Laboratory in the UK have thus far failed to find any confirmed WIMPs. Even if no WIMPs are detected, the experiments will serve to constrain the properties of dark matter and some physics models. The current detector at the Gran Sasso facility has demonstrated sensitivity comparable to that of the best cryogenic detectors, and the sensitivity was expected to be increased by an order of magnitude in 2009.
Xenon is the preferred propellant for ion propulsion of spacecraft because of its low ionization potential per atomic weight, and its ability to be stored as a liquid at near room temperature (under high pressure) yet be easily converted back into a gas to feed the engine. The inert nature of xenon makes it environmentally friendly and less corrosive to an ion engine than other fuels such as mercury or caesium. Xenon was first used for satellite ion engines during the 1970s.[151] It was later employed as a propellant for Europe's SMART-1 spacecraft[18] and for the three ion propulsion engines on NASA's Dawn Spacecraft.
Chemically, the perxenate compounds are used as oxidizing agents in analytical chemistry. Xenon difluoride is used as an etchant for silicon, particularly in the production of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).[153] The anticancer drug 5-fluorouracil can be produced by reacting xenon difluoride with uracil. Xenon is also used in protein crystallography. Applied at pressures from 0.5 to 5 MPa (5 to 50 atm) to a protein crystal, xenon atoms bind in predominantly hydrophobic cavities, often creating a high quality, isomorphous, heavy-atom derivative, which can be used for solving the phase problem.