Nonlinear optical amino acid single crystal of L-tartaric acid was successfully grown by unidirectional Sankaranarayanan-Ramasamy method under ambient conditions for the first time. The grown single crystal was subjected to different characterization analyses in order to find out its suitability for device fabrication. The crystal system and lattice parameters were determined from the powder X-ray diffraction analysis. The crystalline perfection was evaluated using high-resolution X-ray diffractometry. It is evident from the optical absorption study that crystal has excellent transmission in the entire visible region with its lower cut off wavelength around 220 nm. The mechanical properties of the grown crystals were studied using Vickers microhardness tester. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.