  We show that confinement of bulk electrons can be observed at low-dimensional
surface structures and can serve as a long-range sensor for the magnetism and
electronic properties of single impurities or as a quantum information transfer
channel with large coherence lengths. Our ab initio calculations reveal
oscillations of electron density in magnetic chains on metallic surfaces and
help to unambiguously identify the electrons involved as bulk electrons. We
furthermore discuss the possibility of utilizing bulk state confinement to
transfer quantum information, encoded in an atom's species or spin, across
distances of several nanometers with high efficiency.
