Stability of multihump optical solitons

We demonstrate that, in contrast with what was previously believed, multihu mp solitary waves can be stable. By means of linear stability analysis and numerical simulations, we investigate the stability of two- and three-hump solitary waves governed by incoherent beam interaction in a saturable mediu m, providing a theoretical background for the stability of the experimental results reported by Mitchell, Segev, and Christodoulides [Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 4657 (1998)].