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 allows also the preparation of states in the first excitation sector as well as cooling. 
D. Burgarth, V. Giovannetti, S. Bose