Organic Nonlinear Optical (NLO) crystals of 4-fluorochalcone (4FC) were synthesized and grown by slow evaporation solution growth method. The grown crystals have been characterised by powder X-ray diffraction, factor group analysis, FTIR, FT-Raman, UV–Vis Spectroscopy, powder SHG and Vickers microhardness tests. Theoretical quantum chemical analysis were performed to determine the first order hyperpolarizability (β) and HOMO–LUMO analysis of the title compound were computed by GAUSSIAN 03 package.