The growth of the nonlinear optical crystal CsB3O5 (CBO) by means of a Seed-submerged growth technique is reported. Single crystals of CBO with maximum dimensions of 65 x 44 x 49 mm(3) and weights up to 162 g were obtained from near stoichiometric CBO melt. The effect of starting composition and the growth parameters on the growth of CBO crystals is discussed. The optical uniformity of these as-growth crystals was verified from the change of refractive index (Delta n similar to 6 x 10(-5)/cm). The coefficients of absorption of this crystal at 1064, 532 and 355 nm are calculated from the absorption spectra data. Furthermore, the morphology of CBO was studied. CBO crystals grown with different seed orientations exhibited a similar morphology. The predominant faces are the (011) and (101). The Vickers hardness (H-v) of CBO was also measured. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.