Raman Calibration Tool (The RaCaTo)

The RaCaTo (Raman Calibartion Tool) lets you easily and fast determine the exact wavelength of the excitation Laser in a Raman experiment. It can load either raw .sif files as generated by the ANDOR solis software or spectra previously converted to SLS-APE .mat format using eiterh tool of the SLS-APE toolbox.

Currently the following types of reference samples are supported:
  • (pure) silicon
  • Cyclohexane
  • ALERT! Polystyrene (WIP)
The reference Spectra used are provided by the McCreery-Lab: http://www.chem.ualberta.ca/~mccreery/raman.html

Please report any bugs to florian.dworkowski(at)psi.ch . Thanks (especially the embarrassing typos already visible in the images below!)

MATLAB script

  1. get the RaCaTo_ML.zip below
  2. unpack into a folder on your Matlab path
  3. run RaCaTo in Matlab by typing racato

Windows Stand-alone app

MRC Runtime Installation
  1. Get the Matlab Compiler Runtime (MRC) from below.
  2. Make sure it is the right version (see below).
    You can have multiple versions installed simultaneously.
  3. Install MRC if needed.
RaCaTo Installation
  1. Unpack RaCaTo archive.
  2. Make sure ATSIFIO.dll and atsifiomex.mexw32 are in the same folder.
  3. Run RaCaTo by opening racato.exe

Taking Reference Spectra

  1. Record a nice Raman spectra of either of the supported samples under the exact same conditions you will perform your later experiments.

Loading Data into RaCaTo

  1. Open racato.exe
  2. Choose your reference sample type:
    Racato-2011-07-15-1.png
  1. Click load Data and choose spectra file. Choose type of file in the drop down list first.
    Racato-2011-07-15-2.png

Performing semi-automated calibration

Silicon

  1. Your spectra will be displayed and a popup will ask you to zoom in until it is easy to click on the Si peak. Do that and then press OK in this window:
    sshot-2011-07-15-Si-3.png
    sshot-2011-07-15-Si-4.png
  1. Now you are asked to click on the Si peak. Do that. It will automatically close the popup.
    sshot-2011-07-15-Si-5.png
    sshot-2011-07-15-Si-6.png
  1. The spectrum will be closed and the result is displayed inside the RaCaTo main menu. Congrats! You got your result!
    sshot-2011-07-15-Si-7.png

Cyclohexane

  1. Your spectra will be displayed and a popup will ask you to click of one prominent peak in the spectrum. Do that.
    sshot-2011-07-15-Cy-4.png
  1. The clicked position will be marked and a reference spectrum of cyclohexane is displayed as a reference:
    sshot-2011-07-15-Cy-5.png
  1. A popup asks you to identify the chosen peak. Using the reference spectrum below identify your peak in the list and chose it before pressing OK.
    sshot-2011-07-15-Cy-6.png
  1. The spectra will close and a new popup will display the results of the calibration:
    sshot-2011-07-15-Cy-7.png
  1. The spectrum will be closed and the result is displayed inside the RaCaTo main menu. Congrats! You got your result!
    sshot-2011-07-15-Cy-8.png

Polystyrene

ALERT!WIP, not yet suported. ALERT!
V1.1, 15-Jul-2011
  • MRC v.7.12.0
  • fixed error when loading files from different folder than the .exe/.m script
  • fixed .sif import in stand-alone version
  • fixed error in displaying the chosen Raman peak
  • added logging for .exe version
V1.0, 13-Jul-2011
  • MRC v.7.12.0
  • first working version