The 1%-accurate calculations of the van der Waals interaction between an atom and a cavity wall are performed in the separation region from $3\mathrm{nm}\text{to}150\mathrm{nm}$. The cases of metastable ${\mathrm{He}}^{*}$ and Na atoms near metal, semiconductor, and dielectric walls are considered. Different approximations to the description of wall material and atomic dynamic polarizability are carefully compared. The smooth transition to the Casimir-Polder interaction is verified. It is shown that to obtain accurate results for the atom-wall van der Waals interaction at short separations with an error less than 1% one should use the complete optical-tabulated data for the complex refractive index of the wall material and the accurate dynamic polarizability of an atom. The obtained results may be useful for the theoretical interpretation of recent experiments on quantum reflection and Bose-Einstein condensation of ultracold atoms on or near surfaces of different kinds.

• Received 19 October 2004

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.71.042901