  The Casimir-Polder potential for interaction between an excited atom and a
ground-state one in the retarded case obtained with the help of perturbation
technique drops as R^-2 with the distance between the atoms [E.A. Power,
T.Thirunamachandran, Phys. Rev. A, 47, 2539 (1993)]. It results in diverdent
integrals for interaction between an excited atom and a dilute gas medium. We
investigate interaction between two atoms embedded in a dielectric medium with
the help of non-perturbative approach. We take into account absorption of
photons in the medium. This approach solves the problem of divergence. We
consider interaction between an excited atom and a planar dielectric gas medium
of ground-state atoms. We show that the retarded interaction between an excited
atom and a gas of ground-state atoms is not oscillating but follows a simple
power law. We show that to obtain coventional non-retarded expression for the
van der Waals force between an excited atom and a dilute gas the distance
between the atom and the interface should be much smaller than the free mean
pass of a photon in the medium. Interaction between an excited atom and a
hemisphere of ground-state atoms is considered.
