Formation of molecules near a Feshbach resonance in a 1D optical lattice

We calculate the binding energy of two atoms interacting near a Feshbach resonance in the presence of a 1D periodic potential. The critical value of the scattering length needed to produce a molecule as well as the value of the molecular binding energy in the unitarity limit of infinite scattering length are calculated as a function of the intensity of the laser field generating the periodic potential. The Bloch bandwidth and the effective mass of molecules are shown to depend strongly on the value of the scattering length due to the correlated motion of the two atoms.