 Pure-polarization preparation with two quarter-wave plates

Two rotatable ideal quarter-wave plates can transform a fixed circular polarization into any pure polarization represented by a Jones vector. Use time dependence $e^{-i\omega t}$, $Q(\theta )=R(-\theta )\mathrm{diag}(1,i)R(\theta )$ and input $J_L=(1,i{)}^T/\sqrt{2}$. Every target polarization ellipse can be written, up to a common phase, as $R(-\beta )(\cos \eta ,i\sin \eta {)}^T$, with signed ellipticity angle $-\pi /4\le \eta \le \pi /4$. The first quarter-wave plate at ${\theta }_1=\beta +\eta +\pi /4$ produces linear polarization at $\beta +\eta$. The second, at ${\theta }_2=\beta$, therefore produces the required target. The two angles supply the two independent parameters of pure polarization.