The peculiarities of growth process for nominally pure and Nd3+-doped BaWO4 crystals were studied. The growth technology of large optically homogeneous single crystals based on the Czoehralski technique with automatic diameter control system and new growth program was developed. Chemical composition, lattice parameters, density and microhardness of as-grown crystals were measured. Several examples of laser generation and self-Raman shifting are given. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.