Ammonium p-toluenesullonate single crystals (AMPTS) were grown by a slow cooling solution growth technique. The unit cell parameters and morphology of AMPTS crystal were found out by single crystal X-ray diffraction study. High-resolution X-ray diffraction study revealed the crystalline perfection and the absence of structural grain boundaries. UV-vis-NlR transmission studies revealed that the AMPTS crystal is transparent in the entire visible region with a lower optical cut-off wavelength of 278 nm. From the thermogravimetric and differential thermal analyses, the melting point of AMPTS crystal was found to be 145 degrees C. The single and multiple shots laser damage thresholds of AMPTS crystal were found to be 4.08 and 3.18 GW/cm(2) respectively, for 1064 nm wavelength of Nd:YAG laser radiation. The relative second harmonic generation efficiency of AMPTS was found to be 0.7 times that of KDP. The three independent dielectric tensor components epsilon(11)=86.56-44.32, epsilon(22)-83.80-4144 and epsilon(33)=82.03-42.67 were calculated from the dielectric measurement studies. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved