In contrast to the tremendous advances made in data analysis, hardware development has not progressed significantly. The commercially available hardware is based on 20-year-old detector technology, and while new detection systems have been developed in research laboratories, they are not commercially available. One reason for this lag is the cost and effort associated with the development of an AUC detector. Designing the optical, mechanical, and electrical components, as well as writing reliable real-time data acquisition software, makes detector development challenging. However, the overriding causes of slow detector development for the AUC are the geometric and vacuum constraints of the XLI platform. Constructing the custom hardware is time consuming and expensive. Furthermore, the geometric constraints imposed by the XLI result in compromised optical performance. Worst of all, insurance and liability concerns have made it cost-prohibitive for Beckman Coulter or other companies to commercialize any optics that require changes to the heatsink or in the vacuum/containment chamber.