We calculate the dispersive force between a ground-state atom and a nonplanar surface. We present explicit results for a corrugated surface, derived from the scattering approach at first order in the corrugation amplitude. A variety of analytical results in different limiting cases, including the van der Waals and Casimir-Polder regimes, is derived. We compute numerically the exact first-order dispersive potential for arbitrary separation distances and corrugation wavelengths for a rubidium atom on top of a silicon or gold corrugated surface. We discuss in detail the inadequacy of the proximity force approximation, and present a simple but adequate approximation for computing the potential.

• Received 18 February 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.80.022119