Nonlinear optical behaviour of bis (cytosinium) tartarate monohydrate single crystal

•Nonlinear optical single crystal of bis (cytosinium) tartarate monohydrate was grown by slow evaporation method.•BCTM crystal belongs to orthorhombic crystal system with P212121space group.•BCTM crystal has a wide transparency window without any absorption in the range from 320 nm to 1100 nm.•SHG efficiency of BCTM is 1.5 times that of KDP crystal.•BCTM exhibit two photon absorption induced optical limiting.