A high-quality Nd3+:Sr3Y2(BO3)(4) laser crystal has been grown by the Czochralski method. The phase purity and accurate unit cell parameters were determined using X-ray powder diffraction; the unit cell parameters are calculated to be a=7.3933 (1) angstrom, b=15.9461(2) angstrom, c=8.6967 (1) angstrom, and V=102529 (5) angstrom(3). Effective segregation coefficients were measured and the optical homogeneity was further characterized by interferometry. A series of possible growth faces (hkl) were also deduced and compared with the as-grown crystal boules using the Bravais-Friedel-Donnay-Harker (BFDH) theory. A full set of thermal properties, including the thermal expansion, thermal diffusivity, specific heat, and thermal conductivity, were measured as a function of temperature. The average linear thermal expansion coefficients along different crystallographic directions were measured to be alpha(11) = 7.04 x 10(-6) K-1, alpha(22) = 15.32 x 10(-6) K-1 and alpha(33)=14.35 x 10(-6) K-1 over the temperature range 303.15-770.15 K. The specific heat was measured to be 0.573 J g(-1) K-1 (92.64 cal mol(-1) K-1) at 330 K. The thermal conductivity at room temperature was calculated to be 0.74 W m(-1) K-1, 1.00 W m(-1) K-1, and 0.67 W m(-1) K-1 along the a-, b- and c-axis, respectively. It was found that thermal conductivity increases with increasing temperature, which indicates a glass-like behavior. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.