We describe a physical implementation of a quantum finite automaton that recognizes a well-known family of periodic languages. The realization exploits the polarization degree of freedom of single photons and their manipulation through linear optical elements. We use techniques of confidence amplification to reduce the acceptance error probability of the automaton. It is worth remarking that the quantum finite automaton we physically realize is not only interesting per se but it turns out to be a crucial building block in many quantum finite automaton design frameworks theoretically settled in the literature
