The way I understood a magnet was that the way all of the holes in between the electrons faced one way while the electrons faced another way creating the repelling and attracting forces. Since protons attract each other the holes allowed the protons to interact more then they usually would in...
Here's where I saw it:
http://www.sumobrain.com/patents/jp/Rf-type-ion-thruster/JP62178779.html
Please read it and tell me if I miss read it.
There's also this too that was on wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_ion_thruster
Exactly how does the ion thruster rely on the laser in it's process exactly. I have been told that the ion thruster uses a laser but I wasn't given anymore information on what it exactly does.