Optimal quantum-chain communication by end gates

The scalability of solid-state quantum computation relies on the ability of connecting the qubits to the macroscopic world. Quantum chains can be used as quantum wires to keep regions of external control at a distance. However, even in the absence of external noise their transfer fidelity is too low to assure reliable connections. We propose a method of optimizing the fidelity by minimal usage of the available resources, consisting of applying a suitable sequence of two-qubit gates at the end of the chain. Our scheme also allows the preparation of states in the first excitation sector as well as cooling.