It is advantageous to grow crystals of triglycine sulphate (TGS) with a large area in the plane perpendicular to the polar axis (i.e. the (0 10) plane), for applications in large-area infrared detectors and laser-energy meters. Growing TGS crystals with such a morphology. using a point seed, has been a difficult task because of a low growth rate along the c-direction. To overcome this problem a cylindrical seed of large dimension along the c-axis is commonly used. This paper reports the growth of TGS crystals by the platform technique, using seeds which need not be long along the c-axis. Crystals were grown from aqueous solution by placing seeds of size 5 x 5 x 5 mm(3) in different orientations on the platform. The variation of growth rates of various habit facets with different orientations of seeds was determined. An optimum seed orientation was found such that the platform technique permits one to grow TGS crystals from which large-area (0 10) plates can be cut. The grown crystals were characterised by various techniques. A laser-energy meter was designed, fabricated, and tested. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.