Polarization-dependent effects of an Airy beam due to the spin-orbit coupling.

We investigate the polarization-dependent effects when a circularly polarized Airy beam propagates in an inhomogeneous medium. It shows that there are some interesting polarization-dependent phenomena induced by the spin-orbit coupling: the circularly polarized Airy beam will follow a polarization-dependent trajectory in an inhomogeneous medium, and there are the polarization-dependent self-acceleration of the Airy beam in the linear-index inhomogeneous medium and the polarization-dependent rotation of the Airy beam in the quadratic-index inhomogeneous medium. These polarization-dependent phenomena are different from the manifestation of the "traditional" spin Hall effect of a light beam, which just displays the polarization-dependent transverse deflection of the beam.