  We propose an experimental implementation of a topological superfluid with
ultracold fermionic atoms. An optical superlattice is used to juxtapose a 1D
gas of fermionic atoms and a 2D conventional superfluid of condensed Feshbach
molecules. The latter acts as a Cooper pair reservoir and effectively induces a
superfluid gap in the 1D system. Combined with a spin-dependent optical lattice
along the 1D tube and laser-induced atom tunneling, we obtain a topological
superfluid phase. In the regime of weak couplings to the molecular fl eld and
for a uniform gas the atomic system is equivalent to Kitaev's model of a p-wave
superfluid. Using a numerical calculation we show that the topological
superfluidity is robust beyond the perturbative limit and in the presence of a
harmonic trap. Finally we describe how to investigate some physical properties
of the Majorana fermions located at the topological superfluid boundaries. In
particular we discuss how to prepare and detect a given Majorana edge state.
