Dynamical van der Waals atom–surface interaction

We obtained new nonrelativistic expression for the dynamical van der Waals atom–surface interaction energy of a very convenient form for different applications. It is shown that classical result (Ferrell and Ritchie, 1980) holds only for a very slowly moving atom. In general case, the van der Waals atom–surface interaction energy manifests strong nonlinear dependence on the velocity and distance. In close vicinity of metal and dielectric surfaces and velocities ranging from 1 to 10 bohr units the dynamical van der Waals potential proves to be several times lower than in the static case and goes to the static values with increasing the distance and (or) decreasing the velocity.