  We employ a general Lagrange model to describe the chiral optical properties
of stereometamaterials. We derive the elliptical eigenstates of a twisted
stacked split-ring resonator, taking phase retardation into account. Through
this approach, we obtain a powerful Jones matrix formalism which can be used to
calculate the polarization rotation, ellipticity, and circular dichroism of
transmitted waves through stereometamaterials at any incident polarization. Our
experimental measurements agree well with our model.
