  We review a recently developed theoretical approach to the experimental
detection and quantification of bipartite quantum correlations between a qubit
and a d dimensional system. Specifically, introducing a properly designed
measure Q, the presented scheme allows us to quantify general quantum
correlations for arbitrary states of 2 x d systems without the need to fully
reconstruct them by tomographic techniques. We take in exam the specifics of
the required experimental architecture in nuclear magnetic resonance and
optical settings. Finally we extend this approach to models of open system
dynamics and discuss possible advantages and limitations in such a context.
