AXEL-a high pressure xenon gas TPC for neutrinoless double beta decay search

To search for neutrinoless double beta decay, we have started developing a high pressure xenon gas time projection chamber as the AXEL (A Xenon ElectroLuminescence detector) project since 2014. We proposed a new scheme to measure energy deposit using electroluminescence lights to achieve high energy resolution, large mass and strong background rejection power. Important performances of compositions of our new readout scheme are shown: electric field simulation, VUV sensitivity of MPPC in high pressure gaseous xenon, response of MPPC for large amount of photons. To demonstrate as a whole system, we constructed a small prototype detector using 64 MPPCs filled with 4bar xenon gas. Result of measurement with a 57Co gamma-ray source are shown.