A. Fert1, V. Cros1, C. Deranlot1, J-M. George1, J. Grollier1, H. Jaffres1, N. Reyren1, J. Sampaio1,

Y. Kawanishi2, Y. Niimi2, Y. Otani2,3, D.-H. Wei2, M. Chshiev4, S. Rohart5, A. Thiaville5, H.-X. Yang4,

J.P. Attané6, P. Laczkowski6, J.C. Rojas Sanchez6, L. Vila6, .V. Khvalkovskiy7, J.-M. De Teresa8.

1UMP CNRS-Thales and Université Paris-Sud, 1 Av. A. Fresnel, Palaiseau, 91767, France

2Institute for Solid State Physics, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan

3RIKEN-ASI, Wako, Saitama, Japan

4SPINTEC, UMR-8191, CEA/CNRS/UJF/GINP, 38054 Grenoble, France

5LPS, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France

6INC, CEA, 38054, Grenoble, France

7Grandis, Inc., 1123 Cadillac Court, Milpitas, California 95035, U.S.A

8ICM, Univ-Zaragoza-CSIC, Zaragoza, Spain

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Spintronics can be described as a new type of electronics based on the propagation of spin-polarized currents. In classical spintronic devices the exchange interaction between the spin of conduction electrons and local spins in magnetic materials is used to create spin-polarized current or to manipulate nanomagnets by spin transfer from spin-polarized currents. A novel direction of spintronics exploits more the spin-orbit coupling than the exchange, either to generate spin-polarized currents with only nonmagnetic materials or to create new types of magnetic objects like skyrmions. I will review recent advances in two directions of this field.

a) Magnetic skyrmions induced by interface-induced Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interactions in thin films and current induced motion of skyrmions in magnetic tracks.

b) Spin Hall, Rashba, Edelstein-Rashba effects and their use for current-induced motion of domain walls (or skyrmions).