Thermionic energy converter with photon ionization

Claim 1

A THERMO-ELECTRONIC ENERGY CONVERTER, COMPRISING WITHIN AN EVACUATED ENVELOPE: ELECTRON EMISSIVE MEANS OPERATIVE UPON HEATING SUPPORTED WITHIN SAID ENVELOPE, ELECTRON COLLECTING MEANS SUPPORTING WITHIN SAID ENVELOPE AND ELECTRICALLY INSULATED FROM SAID ELECTRON EMISSIVE MEANS, SAID ELECTRON COLLECTING MEANS SUBSTANTIALLY FACING AND SPACED FROM SAID ELECTRON EMISSIVE MEANS TO DEFINE A SPACE THEREBETWEEN AND MADE OF A MATERIAL HAVING A WORK FUNCTION LOWER THAN SAID ELECTRON EMISSIVE MEANS, ILLUMINATION ENABLING MEANS COMPRISING A PART OF SAID EVACUATED ENVELOPE, SAID ELECTRON EMISSIVE MEANS BEING COMPRISED OF A BODY PROVIDED WITH A NUMBER OF CAPILLARY CHANNELS WHICH OPEN AT ONE END THEREOF INTO THE SPACE BETWEEN SAID ELECTRON EMISSIVE MEANS AND SAID ELECTRON COLLECTING MEANS, AND AT THE OTHER END THEREOF TERMINATER ON THE OPPOSITE SURFACE OF SAID ELECTRON EMISSIVE MEANS AND OPEN INTO A SECOND SPACE DEFINED BY THE OPPOSITE SURFACE OF SAID ELECTRON EMISSIVE MEANS ND SAID ILLUMINATION ENABLING MEANS, TANK MEANS CONTAINING A LIQUID METAL HAVING AN IONIZING POTENTIAL LOWER THAN THE WORK FUNCTION OF SAID ELECTRON EMISSIVE MEANS, MEANS INTERCONNECTING SAID TANK MEANS AND SAID SECOND SPACE FOR SUPPLYING VAPOR FROM SAID LIQUID METAL TO THE SECOND SPACE AND THEREBY SUPPLY SAID VAPOR ALSO THROUGH SAID CHANNELS INTO THE SPACE BETWEEN SAID EMISSIVE AND COLLECTING MEANS, SAID ILLUMINATION ENABLING MEANS SERVING TO ILLUMINATE WITH VISIBLE SPECTRUM ENERGY THE INTERIOR OF SAID CAPILLARY CHANNELS FOR HEATING SAID ELECTRON EMISSIVE MEANS TO EMISSION TEMPERATURE AND ENHANCING, BY THE EFFECT OF PHOTONS OF SAID VISIBLE SPECTRUM ENERGY, THE IONIZATION OF THE ATOMS OF SAID VAPOR.