Segment, Customer and Geographical Reporting (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended				12 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2012	Mar. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011
Revenue	$ 11,373,808	$ 12,082,037	$ 12,299,010	$ 12,132,295	$ 47,887,150	$ 46,951,666
Gross profit					19,505,743	19,750,231
SG&A	5,178,246	5,124,010	5,684,059	4,940,620	20,926,935	17,463,573
Impairment of goodwill	2,284,499	0	0	0	2,284,499	0
Operating Income (Loss)	(3,152,952)	(139,351)	(599,716)	186,328	(3,705,691)	2,286,658
GM %	40.70%				40.70%	42.10%
Depreciation and Amortization					1,669,719	1,233,073
Capital expenditures					1,018,213	1,543,262
Intangibles, net	6,703,305				6,703,305	7,466,506
Goodwill	10,254,160				10,254,160	12,521,971
Total Assets	37,465,428				37,465,428	40,866,583
Contract Research [Member]
Revenue					24,270,675	24,874,088
Gross profit					8,859,780	10,339,990
SG&A					9,523,642	9,149,838
Impairment of goodwill					0	1,190,152
Operating Income (Loss)					663,862	1,190,152
GM %	36.50%				36.50%	41.60%
Depreciation and Amortization					237,623	147,687
Capital expenditures					348,314	284,098
Intangibles, net	366,853				366,853	456,367
Goodwill	4,938,625				4,938,625	4,938,625
Total Assets	12,870,151				12,870,151	10,447,842
Instruments [Member]
Revenue					6,054,752	6,238,373
Gross profit					3,436,542	3,018,950
SG&A					4,915,723	2,639,944
Impairment of goodwill					2,284,499	2,284,499
Operating Income (Loss)					(3,763,680)	379,007
GM %	56.80%				56.80%	48.40%
Depreciation and Amortization					575,246	503,922
Capital expenditures					207,454	343,186
Intangibles, net	5,135,634				5,135,634	5,613,366
Goodwill	4,015,072				4,015,072	6,299,571
Total Assets	12,537,403				12,537,403	15,363,526
Biomedical [Member]
Revenue					105,287	0
Gross profit					83,459	0
SG&A					939,149	495,201
Impairment of goodwill					0	0
Operating Income (Loss)					855,690	495,201
GM %	79.30%				79.30%	0.00%
Depreciation and Amortization					60,003	0
Capital expenditures					0	0
Intangibles, net	239,997				239,997	300,000
Goodwill	0				0	0
Total Assets	469,729				469,729	371,808
Optics [Member]
Revenue					17,456,436	15,839,205
Gross profit					7,125,962	6,391,291
SG&A					5,548,421	5,178,590
Impairment of goodwill					0	0
Operating Income (Loss)					1,577,541	1,212,700
GM %	40.80%				40.80%	40.40%
Depreciation and Amortization					796,847	581,464
Capital expenditures					462,445	915,978
Intangibles, net	960,821				960,821	1,096,773
Goodwill	1,300,463				1,300,463	1,283,775
Total Assets	$ 11,588,145				$ 11,588,145	$ 14,683,407