Machining technique for optical crystals with single point diamond turning tool is reported in this paper. The main factors influencing the machined surface quality are studied and regularities of machining process are drawn. Optical crystals have been known to more and more important applications in the field of modern optics. Ge is more brittle material of poor machinability. The traditional machining method is polishing which has many shortcomings such as low production efficiency, poor ability to be automatically controlled and edge effect of the workpiece. The purpose of our research is to find the optimum machining conditions for ductile cutting of Ge and apply the SPDTM technique to the manufacturing of ultra precision optical components of Ge. As a result, the surface roughness is the best when cutting speed is 180m/min, feed rate is 2mm/min, depth of cut is $0.5{mu}m$ and nose radius of tool is 0.8mm.