We derive an expression for the effective second-harmonic coefficient of a
dilute suspension of coated spherical particles. It is assumed that the coating
material, but not the core or the host, has a nonlinear susceptibility for
second-harmonic generation (SHG). The resulting compact expression shows the
various factors affecting the effective SHG coefficient. The effective SHG per
unit volume of nonlinear coating material is found to be greatly enhanced at
certain frequencies, corresponding to the surface plasmon resonance of the
coated particles. Similar expression is also derived for a dilute suspension of
coated discs. For coating materials with third-harmonic (THG) coefficient,
results for the effective THG coefficients are given for the cases of coated
particles and coated discs.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures; accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.