The microstructure and effective dielectric response of nonlinear composites: decoupling technique and variational method

Abstract

The decoupling technique has been applied to nonlinear composites of coated spherical inclusions. The method allows us to convert established results in linear composites to nonlinear ones with identical microstructure. Results are compared with those of the variational method and hence the quality of the approximation can be examined. For coated spheres with nonlinear shell embedded in a linear host, the results show that a relatively thin nonlinear coating may approach the enhancement effects of a solid nonlinear sphere of the same radius under appropriate conditions.