We analyse the process of conversion of near-field thermal radiation intousable work by considering the radiation emitted between two planar sourcessupporting surface phonon-polaritons. The maximum work flux that can beextracted from the radiation is obtained taking into account that the spectralflux of modes is mainly dominated by these surface modes. The thermodynamicefficiencies are discussed and an upper bound for the first law efficiency isobtained for this process.
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