Nonlinear manipulation of circular Airy beams

We investigate the propagation property of circular Airy beams in photorefractive nonlinear media by differential method. The abruptly autofocusing behavior of circular Airy beams in free space is first discussed. The intensity contrast will increase with the decreasing of decay factor and the focal length will also increase with the increasing of initial radius. When photorefractive nonlinearity is introduced, the energy diffusion of circular Airy beams after autofocusing behavior can be manipulated. The periodic breather soliton can be obtained when the energy diffusion is suppressed by appropriately photorefractive nonlinearity. If the photorefractive nonlinearity is large enough, the abruptly autofocusing behavior is suppressed completely and the circular Airy beam can form the bracelet breather soliton.