Apparatus and associated methods involve thrust generation by interaction of an armature field with a stator field in an arrangement with substantially reduced flux coupling from the armature to the stator coil. In an illustrative example, solenoid coil segments may be arranged as the stator along a path of motion for the armature. In some examples, each armature may surround and overlap with at least one of the toroidal coil segments. Counter-electromotive force may be substantially reduced, for example, by stopping current flow in a stator coil while overlapped by the armature or while substantial armature flux couples to the stator coil. Thrust may be generated, in some examples, by interaction of armature and stator coil flux in arc-shaped regions external to and between each of the leading and trailing edges of the armature and their respective nearby stator coils.
