Near-stoichiometric LiTaO3 single crystals, 80mm in diameter and 25-30mm in length, were grown by conventional Czochralski technique using radio-frequency heating and automatic control system. Two compositions of the starting melt were used, containing accordingly 58 and 60.5 mol% Li2O. The chemical composition of the grown crystals was estimated by measuring their coercive field to be 49.75-49.8 and 49.93-49.97 mol% Li2O for these two starting melts. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.