Segment, Customer and Geographical Reporting (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2012
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	$ 42,309,000	$ 42,753,000
Gross Profit	16,730,000	18,086,000
GM %	39.50%	42.30%
SG&A	15,333,000	19,426,000
Impairment of goodwill & long-lived assets	0	6,829,000
Gain on sale of assets	1,297,000	0
Operating Income (Loss)	2,695,000	(8,169,000)
Depreciation and Amortization	1,123,000	1,596,000
Capital expenditures	1,448,000	545,000
Intangibles, Net	1,383,000	3,485,000
Goodwill	6,247,000	6,241,000	10,254,000
Total Assets	26,377,000	26,677,000
Contract Research [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	21,935,000	21,889,000
Gross Profit	9,301,000	9,822,000
GM %	42.40%	44.90%
SG&A	8,546,000	9,345,000
Impairment of goodwill & long-lived assets		0
Gain on sale of assets	0
Operating Income (Loss)	755,000	477,000
Depreciation and Amortization	280,000	317,000
Capital expenditures	12,000	32,000
Intangibles, Net	299,000	333,000
Goodwill	4,939,000	4,939,000
Total Assets	8,857,000	9,831,000
Optics [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	19,590,000	15,564,000
Gross Profit	7,100,000	5,647,000
GM %	36.20%	36.30%
SG&A	5,482,000	5,624,000
Impairment of goodwill & long-lived assets		0
Gain on sale of assets	0
Operating Income (Loss)	1,618,000	23,000
Depreciation and Amortization	781,000	765,000
Capital expenditures	1,326,000	506,000
Intangibles, Net	854,000	882,000
Goodwill	1,308,000	1,302,000
Total Assets	16,019,000	12,380,000
Instruments [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	773,000	5,105,000
Gross Profit	318,000	2,422,000
GM %	41.10%	47.40%
SG&A	527,000	3,487,000
Impairment of goodwill & long-lived assets		6,829,000
Gain on sale of assets	1,297,000
Operating Income (Loss)	1,087,000	(7,894,000)
Depreciation and Amortization	2,000	454,000
Capital expenditures	0	7,000
Intangibles, Net	0	2,090,000
Goodwill	0	0
Total Assets	313,000	4,254,000
Biomedical [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	11,000	195,000
Gross Profit	11,000	195,000
GM %	100.00%	100.00%
SG&A	778,000	970,000
Impairment of goodwill & long-lived assets		0
Gain on sale of assets	0
Operating Income (Loss)	(765,000)	(775,000)
Depreciation and Amortization	60,000	60,000
Capital expenditures	110,000	0
Intangibles, Net	230,000	180,000
Goodwill	0	0
Total Assets	$ 1,188,000	$ 212,000