  Many low dimensional spin systems with a dimerized or ladder-like
antiferromagnetic exchange coupling have a gapped excitation spectrum with
magnetic bound states within the spin gap. For spin ladders with an even number
of legs the existence of spin gaps and within the t-J model a tendency toward
superconductivity with d-wave symmetry is predicted. In the following we will
characterize the spin excitation spectra of different low dimensional spin
systems taking into account strong spin phonon interaction ($\rm CuGeO_3$),
charge ordering ($\rm NaV_2O_5$) and doping on chains and ladders (\ladder).
The spectroscopic characterization of the model systems mentioned above has
been performed using magnetic inelastic light scattering originating from a
spin conserving exchange scattering mechanism. This is also bound to yield more
insight into the interrelation between these spin gap excitations and the
origin of the pseudo gap in high temperature superconductors.
