We have presented a method to generate bending waves in a plate by focusing a Q-switched Nd:YAG-laser pulse on its surface. These waves are recorded by double pulsed hologram interferometry. Evaluation of the interferograms show that the bending wave pattern is very similar to what is predicted by the Kirchhoff plate equation assuming a point impact of infinitesimally short duration. This indicates that a short Nd:YAG-laser pulse may be considered as a Dirac pulse in space and time. Future investigations will be performed with a more powerful and "cleaner" laser to get a higher energy and impulse transfer to the plate thus giving bending waves of larger amplitude. Promising preliminary experiments have also begun using a double pulsed ruby laser both for generating and recording of bending waves.