The linear and third-order nonlinear optical properties of four polymethine cyanines (PC-1-PC-4) were investigated by UV-visible absorption spectroscopy and degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) technique. The second-order hyperpolarizabilities gamma of the four chromophores achieve 10(31) esu. The dependence of their third-order optical nonlinearities on the molecular structure was discussed based on density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculations. The calculated second-order hyperpolarizabilities gamma well-reproduce the experimental trends. The results show that the third-order optical nonlinearities of the chromophores can be drastically enhanced by bulky heteroatom (such as selenium) with low electro-negativity, or extended pi-conjugated terminal group. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.