Description of Business - Accounting Standards Update 2016-18 (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	Mar. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016	Mar. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Description of Business
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 280.7	$ 345.9	$ 214.3	$ 271.2
Accounting Standards Update 2016-18 \| Early Adoption
Description of Business
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 3.2	$ 3.4	$ 4.4	$ 4.2

Amount of cash and cash equivalents, and cash and cash equivalents restricted to withdrawal or usage. Excludes amount for disposal group and discontinued operations. Cash includes, but is not limited to, currency on hand, demand deposits with banks or financial institutions, and other accounts with general characteristics of demand deposits. Cash equivalents include, but are not limited to, short-term, highly liquid investments that are both readily convertible to known amounts of cash and so near their maturity that they present insignificant risk of changes in value because of changes in interest rates.

No definition available.

Name:	brkr_CashCashEquivalentsRestrictedCashAndRestrictedCashEquivalents
Namespace Prefix:	brkr_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant