The monoclinic lanthanum calcium borate La2CaB10O19 (LCB) crystal was grown from its stoichiometric melt by the top-seeded pulling method. The unpolarized transmission spectrum of a 1-mm-thick (0 0 1)-cut LCB crystal was measured in the wavelength range of 190-3100 nm. The crystal exhibited a high transmittance (>80%) and a short absorption edge (<190 nm). The phase-matched second-harmonic generation (SHG) properties within the (0 1 0) plane of a 1.7-mm-thick (0 0 1)-cut LCB crystal were studied for the first time with a Spectra-Physics 3900S Ti:sapphire CW tunable laser. The room-temperature phase-matching (PM) wavelength was found to be 869 nm when the light propagation and polarization directions of the fundamental beam were parallel to the [0 0 1] and [0 10] axes, respectively. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the wavelength-tuning curve was found to be about 6 nm. The phase-matched SHG of the LCB crystal exhibited a small temperature coefficient of 0.05 nm/degreesC between 24degreesC and 150degreesC and was quite stable for generating visible light upon temperature changes. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.