  Within the frame of lowest-order perturbation theory, the van der Waals
potential of a ground-state atom placed within an arbitrary dispersing and
absorbing magnetodielectric multilayer system is given. Examples of an atom
situated in front of a magnetodielectric plate or between two such plates are
studied in detail. Special emphasis is placed on the competing attractive and
repulsive force components associated with the electric and magnetic matter
properties, respectively, and conditions for the formation of repulsive
potential walls are given. Both numerical and analytical results are presented.
