This dissertation deals with the characterization of the nonlinear absorption and refraction of two representative metallophthalocyanine dyes: chloro aluminum phthalocyanine dissolved in methanol, referred to as CAP, and a silicon naphthalocyanine derivative dissolved in toluene, referred to as SiNc. Using the Z-scan technique, the experiments are performed on both the picosecond and nanosecond timescales at a wavelength of 0.532 μm.