Kirigami-inspired technique manipulates light at the nanoscale: Folding and cutting thin metal films could enable microchip-based 3-D optical devices.

Nanokirigami has taken off as a field of research in the last few years; the approach is based on the ancient arts of origami (making 3-D shapes by folding paper) and kirigami (which allows cutting as well as folding) but applied to flat materials at the nanoscale, measured in billionths of a meter.