  When a composite of nonlinear particles suspended in a host medium is
subjected to a sinusoidal electric field, the electrical response in the
composite will generally consist of alternating current (AC) fields at
frequencies of higher-order harmonics. The situation becomes more interesting
when the suspended particles are graded, with a spatial variation in the
dielectric properties. The local electric field inside the graded particles can
be calculated by the differential effective dipole approximation, which agrees
very well with a first-principles approach. In this work, a nonlinear
differential effective dipole approximation and a perturbation expansion method
have been employed to investigate the effect of gradation on the nonlinear AC
responses of these composites. The results showed that the fundamental and
third-harmonic AC responses are sensitive to the dielectric-constant and/or
nonlinear-susceptibility gradation profiles within the particles. Thus, by
measuring the AC responses of the graded composites, it is possible to perform
a real-time monitoring of the fabrication process of the gradation profiles
within the graded particles.
