BaTiO3 crystals are important photorefractive materials due to their self-pumped phase-conjugation and large electro-optic coefficient. High gain, fast response time and proper beam fanning BaTiO3 crystals are desirable. We fabricated photorefractive BaTiO3:Ru single crystals and then investigated their optical and photorefractive properties. In as-grown Ru-doped BaTiO3 single crystals, the absorption shoulder is around 450 nm. The dark conductivity is dominant in the crystal and much higher than the photo conductivity at a low intensity pumping beam. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.