Multiple Period States of the Superfluid Fermi Gas in an Optical Lattice

We study multiple period states (i.e., states whose period is a multiple of the lattice constant) of a two-component unpolarized superfluid Fermi gas in an optical lattice along the crossover between the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) and Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) states. By solving Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations for a superfluid flow with finite quasimomentum, we find that, in the BCS side of the crossover, the multiple period states can be energetically favorable compared to the normal Bloch states and their survival time against dynamical instability drastically increases, suggesting that these states can be accessible in current experiments. This is in sharp contrast to the situation in BECs. (paper)