It’s a huge discovery that could totally change computers in the future: scientists have found a way to teleport a particle of light six kilometers away, a huge leap toward quantum computing — and perhaps a baby step toward teleportation like in science-fiction movies in the distant future.

While we won’t be beaming down to a distant planet anytime soon, Canadian and U.S. researchers have successfully demosntrated the teleportation of a photon, which is an elementary particle of light, over a straight line distance of six kilometers using fiber optic cable infrastructure, according to the study, which was published in the jouranl Nature.

This set a new record for distance in transferring in a quantum state. This network would enable secure communications without eavesdropping. It is similar to a recent discovery by Chinese researchers.

The research is based on the “spooky action at a distance,” or the entanglement property of quantum mechanics. It’s concept even Albert Einstein struggled with. Basically, two photons form an entangled pair that is linked regardless of how far they are separated. So when one is sent a long distance, it remained entangled to one six kilometers away.

“Such a network will enable secure communication without having to worry about eavesdropping, and allow distant quantum computers to connect,” says Tittel. “Being entangled means that the two photons that form an entangled pair have properties that are linked regardless of how far the two are separated. When one of the photons was sent over to City Hall, it remained entangled with the photon that stayed at the University of Calgary.”