  Near-field energy coupling between two surfaces may arise from frustrated
total-internal-reflectance and from atomic dipole-dipole interaction. Such an
exchange of energy, if at resonance, greatly enhances the radiation transfer
between an emitter and a photovoltaic converter. Computational modeling of
selected, but realizable, emitter and detector structures and materials shows
the benefits of both near-field and resonance coupling (e.g., with ~ 100nm
gaps). In one sense, this is almost an engineering paper. A strong
computational model (based on physically-proven concepts and incorporating
known and predicted high-temperature properties of acceptable emitter
materials) is used to demonstrate the potential of materials (properly-selected
to overcome natural limitations) and of structures (carefully crafted to push
the limits of present technology) for breaking barriers of thermal conversion
at lower-emitter temperatures (< 1000C).
