Matter-screened Casimir force and Casimir-Polder force in planar structures

Using a recently developed theory of the Casimir force (Raabe and Welsch 2005 Phys. Rev. A 71 013814), we calculate the force that acts on a plate in front of a planar wall and the force that acts on the plate in the case where the plate is part of matter that fills the space in front of the wall. We show that in the limit of a dielectric plate whose permittivity is close to unity, the force obtained in the former case reduces to the ordinary, i.e., unscreened, Casimir-Polder force acting on isolated atoms. In the latter case, the theory yields the Casimir-Polder force that is screened by the surrounding matter.