The search for neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) remains one
of the most compelling experimental avenues for the discovery in the neutrino
sector. Electroluminescent gas-phase time projection chambers are well suited
to 0νββ searches due to their intrinsically precise energy
resolution and topological event identification capabilities. Scalability to
ton- and multi-ton masses requires readout of large-area electroluminescent
regions with fine spatial resolution, low radiogenic backgrounds, and a
scalable data acquisition system. This paper presents a detector prototype that
records event topology in an electroluminescent xenon gas TPC via VUV
image-intensified cameras. This enables an extendable readout of large tracking
planes with commercial devices that reside almost entirely outside of the
active medium.Following further development in intermediate scale
demonstrators, this technique may represent a novel and enlargeable method for
topological event imaging in 0νββ.Comment: 32 Pages, 22 figure