Is there anything like a Generalized Law of Reflection and Refraction specific to metasurfaces? The idea of a Generalized Law of Reflection and Refraction, put forward by F. Capasso and coauthors has led to an enormous amount of research activities that have opened the field of metasurfaces and new ways of controlling the propagation and polarization of light beams. Yet, the domain of validity, the theoretical basis, and even the concept, of a such a law are questioned by several articles. In this context, Markus Schake proposes a rigorous theoretical approach, based on diffraction gratings, aiming at unraveling the basic physical mechanisms behind this concept. As Schake explains, it turns out that there is no per se a Generalized Law of Reflection and Refraction with a broad validity, but rather a rephrasing, under specific conditions, of classical results of the much discussed electromagnetic theory of gratings. The proposed approach furnishes further theoretical tools to understand and optimize the properties of metasurfaces. For the epistemology enthusiast, it is interesting to reflect on the fact that a hypothetical concept can lead to so many scientific developments.

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