If you know about rocket engines that work on micrwaves or radio waves to
1.) generate high temperature plasma,
2.)generate thrust
3.) generate lift
4.) control flight

tell me in answers to this topic or @ protn7@att.net

Hi Neil!

I believe to have read that some of the ion thrusters or variants use RF power to create the plasma. No idea why it should be better than DC hot plasma or Hall effect.

In these thrusters, the real difficulty is the lifetime of the electrodes, and this doesn't relate in an obvious way to the basic principles used. You enter technology with no simple physical explanation here.

More at Wiki of course.

As for transmitting power to a spacecraft, I wouldn't use microwaves, as these can't be focused at a long distance. People think to lasers for it. The basic advantage is, of course, that the heavy energy source doesn't need to be accelerated.