Flow cytometers including laser assessors, and methods for using the same

A flow cytometer comprising:

• a flow cell;
• a laser configured to irradiate particles at a given intensity in the flow cell at an interrogation point and thereby produce at least non-scattered light and forward scattered light;
• a forward scattered light detector configured to detect the forward scattered light;
• a reference detector configured to detect the non-scattered light;
• a non-scattered light selection element positioned between the reference detector and the flow cell, wherein the non-scattered light selection element is configured to separate forward scattered light from non-scattered light and to prevent the forward scattered light from being detected by the reference detector;
• and a processor configured to actuate the laser to:
• (a) generate:
• flow cytometer data based on the detected forward scattered light;
• and
• laser reference data from the detected non-scattered light;
• and
• (b) dynamically adjust the flow cytometer data based on the laser reference data, wherein dynamically adjusting the flow cytometer data comprises:
• (i) identifying a change in intensity of the laser reference data associated with a resulting change in an intensity of the flow cytometer data by computing a ratio of the intensity of the flow cytometer data to the given intensity of the laser reference data;
• and
• (ii) removing an optical noise from the flow cytometer data based on the identified change by associating the computed ratio with variations in the irradiated particles.