The ground state structure and stability of linear calcium chains Ca n X 2 , XCa n Y (X,Y = H, Li, Na, K; n = 1–8), Ca 8 Y 2 , and Ca 8 XY (X = H, K; Y = F, Cl, Br) have been calculated at the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level. The hyperpolarizabilities of these metal complexes are calculated by employing B2PLYP, BHHLYP, and CAM-B3LYP functionals. The electron correlation at the MP2, CCSD, and CCSD(T) levels and the effect of basis set on the second hyperpolarizability of some representative molecules are also examined. Among the chosen functionals, the CAM-B3LYP method with POL basis set shows fair agreement with the CCSD(T)/POL γ zzzz . The chosen species are found to be sufficiently stable. The dialkalide calcium chains possess larger magnitude of linear polarizability and second hyperpolarizability compared to dihydrides and dihalides. The highest value of first hyperpolarizability has been obtained for the complex Ca 8 HK. Among the investigated metal complexes, the substantially larger second hyperpolarizability is obtained for alkalides, Ca 8 LiK, Ca 8 NaK, Ca 8 K 2 in which charge transfer is significantly larger. The calculated transition energy and transition moment associated with the most crucial electronic transition play a significant role in modulating the magnitude of hyperpolarizabilities. The TD-CAMB3LYP calculated transition energy shows increasing red shift following the power law ∆E ng = bn −c with c value varying in the order Ca n H 2 >> Ca n Li 2 = Ca n Na 2 ≥ Ca n K 2 . The most interesting feature is that no saturation limit of γ can be realized on increasing the length of calcium metal chains but ∆E ng approaches to a limiting value for n → ∞.