Real Fresnel diffraction experiment

[kent davidge]

I'm wondering if I can perform an actual experiment to observe Fresnel diffraction. I would like to do it with a rectangular aperture and of course, visible light.

What should its dimensions be? And from which distance from it can I expect to start seeing a decent diffraction pattern?

I know I could figure the answers to these questions myself, by learning the theory, but that would take me more time than necessary, since for the moment I really want to just perform the experiment.

 

[kent davidge]

I have been reading up on Franhouffer diffraction, and learned that the dimensions of the aperture in that case must be more or less of same order as the wavelength of the light.

If that carries over to Fresnel diffraction, then I suspect this experiment will be hard to carry out, since the wavelength of visible light is $\sim 10^{-7}$.