First of all, the spelling is "salient".
The answers provided thus far are correct.
However if your new to the electric motor repair industry, a basic understanding of what a salient pole motor (or generator) does.
In a 3 phase AC induction motor, when voltage is applied to the stator windings, a rotating magnetic field is generated.
Current is then induced into the rotor cage and the magnetic fields in the rotor are both attracted and repelled by the rotating field of the stator, resulting in shaft rotation. The higher the current, the stronger the magnetic field. However, in an induction motor, there is a certain amount of slip as more load is applied, that's why a induction motor's full load rpm rating may be 1785, for example, rather than 1800 rpms. At no load, the motor should run pretty close to synchronous, that is the rotor is turning as fast as the rotating magnetic field, but as load is applied, more slip comes into play. (can be 5% or more)
In a synchronous motor, the salient poles described by the others are energized with a DC current. This DC current in the salient pole creates a stronger magnetic field than can be induced in an induction motor's rotor. This DC magnetic field then "locks on" to the rotating magnetic field of the stator. As load is applied, the strength of this field is such that there should theoretically be "NO SLIP", as long as the load is not greater than the hp design for the motor. That's why the motor is called "synchronous", because the rotor is synchronized with the stator field.
Further, salient poles are used in portable power generators for the reverse process. DC current once again flows in the salient fields, but this time it is used to excite current in the stator winding by the passing of magnetic fields through a coil (as you should have learned in the very earliest "how a motor works theory"

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The DC for the main rotor salient poles is usually generated by an exciter, which again uses the passing of a coil through a fixed magnetic field of some kind. That however, we can save for another discussion. Feel free to come to my office anytime.
KR