RETARDED ELECTRIC AND MAGNETIC CASIMIR INTERACTION OF A POLARIZABLE SYSTEM AND A DIELECTRIC PERMEABLE WALL

Using an expansion of the electromagnetic field in terms of quantized Fresnel modes, we calculate the retarded Casimir interaction, in the a symptotic domain, of a polarizable system and a dielectric permeable w all, that is, a wall characterized by a dielectric constant epsilon2 a nd a magnetic permeability mu2. We obtain explicit analytic results fo r the atom-wall and for the electron-wall interactions. When magnetic effects are ignored, the results reduce to those obtained by Lifshitz [Sov. Phys. 2, 73 (1956)] for the atom-wall interaction and by the pre sent authors for the electron-wall interaction. The results simplify g reatly for an ideal metallic wall and for a wall made of material such as liquid helium, for which the dielectric constant and the permeabil ity are very close to unity. Other than in the determination of the am plitudes of the Fresnel modes, the calculations are entirely classical .