LSMs are synchronous, necessitated by the use of permanent magnets on the reaction unit. LSMs can produce more force than LIMs for a given electromagnet field strength, but the timing is critical as you're trying to push and pull a fixed magnetic field with a moving field.
LIMs are asynchronous, with the reaction plate field induced by the stator field. The reaction plate is a non-magnetic conductor, so while the stator coils will induce a field in the reaction plate, the reaction plate is not itself magnetic. It is the magnetic field surrounding the reaction plate that gets pulled through the stator coils. LIMs are simpler than LSMs, but marginally less powerful.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
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