Convert Rigaku .raw XRD files to .xy (Beta)

Rigaku Ultima, MiniFlex and SmartLab diffractometers can save measurements as binary .raw files. Rigaku does not publish the format, so outside PDXL and SmartLab Studio hardly any program opens them. This page reads them and writes the pattern as a plain .xy file (2θ and intensity), plus .xye, CSV, Excel and XRDML, without any Rigaku software.

How to convert Rigaku RAW to XY

1. Upload the .raw file; several files or a ZIP of a whole folder work too. Rigaku and Bruker .raw files are told apart by their content, so nothing needs to be chosen.
2. Pick the intensity: Counts as stored in the file, or Counts per second, which is what Rigaku's own text export shows.
3. Download the .xy for plotting or phase identification, or the .xye for Rietveld refinement.

What is read

• The pattern: every point, at the angles of the scan (start, step and end as stored).
• X-ray source: anode, and the Kα1, Kα2 and Kβ wavelengths recorded by the instrument, so d-spacing, Q and Cu-equivalent 2θ use the right values (also for Co tubes).
• Measurement conditions: tube voltage and current, scan axis, scan speed, time per step, slit settings, Kβ filter or monochromator, detector, goniometer and attachment.
• Sample and date: the sample name and when the measurement started and how long it took.

The preview lists all of this, and the Excel workbook has it on a metadata sheet.

Counts and counts per second

The .raw file stores counts per step. Rigaku's text export and PDXL usually show counts per second instead: choose Counts per second to get the same numbers. The time per step comes from the file; files written by SmartLab software don't store it, so it is worked out from the step and the scan speed. SmartLab measurements with a HyPix detector store fractional counts, which are kept as they are.

Accuracy

A conversion was compared with Rigaku's text export of the same measurement: angles and intensities agree for every point. The converter was tested with files from an Ultima IV (with a scintillation counter and with a D/teX Ultra), a MiniFlex 300/600 (D/teX Ultra2) and SmartLab instruments (D/teX Ultra 250 and HyPix-3000), with Cu and Co tubes.

Files that won't convert

• If a .raw file is laid out differently from all the Rigaku files we have seen, the converter says so instead of guessing. Export .ras or .xy from the Rigaku software then.
• A file that was cut off while copying is reported as incomplete; copy it from the instrument PC again.

Rigaku's text formats are covered by Rigaku RAS to XY, Bruker's .raw files by Bruker RAW to XY. To plot against d-spacing or compare with Cu reference patterns, see 2θ to d-spacing.

More about what this tool reads and writes: XRD Pattern Converter (RAW, BRML, XRDML, RAS).