Acquisitions (Narrative) (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended						0 Months Ended		0 Months Ended		0 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2010	Sep. 30, 2011 years employees	Sep. 30, 2010	Jan. 20, 2011 Minimum [Member]	Jan. 20, 2011 Maximum [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 Other Intangible Assets [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 Trade Names [Member] CVI Melles Griot [Member]	Jan. 20, 2011 Advanced Thin Films, LLC [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 Advanced Thin Films, LLC [Member]	Mar. 11, 2011 Microfluidics International Corporation [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 Microfluidics International Corporation [Member]	Jun. 10, 2011 CVI Melles Griot [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 CVI Melles Griot [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Annual revenues of acquired entity									$ 9,000,000		$ 16,000,000		$ 185,000,000
Aggregate purchase price									34,500,000		18,500,000		397,100,000
Purchase price paid in cash									31,800,000				395,700,000
Contingent consideration					0	3,000,000			2,700,000
Assumption of debt													1,400,000
Cash payment financed with borrowings under Company's revolving credit facility													365,000,000
Goodwill recognized in acquisition	227,876,000		227,876,000							16,688,000		4,305,000		206,883,000
Intangible assets	136,929,000		136,929,000				89,900,000	47,000,000		11,435,000		9,717,000		115,777,000
Goodwill deductible for tax purpose									16,700,000				106,600,000
Goodwill not deductible for tax purposes											4,300,000
Acquired intangible assets amortization life, minimum			2
Acquired intangible assets amortization life, maximum			15
Acquisition related transaction costs	5,600,000		5,600,000
Pre-tax acquisition fair value inventory charges and adjustments		0		16,400,000
Pre-tax acquisition-related costs	$ 12,800,000		$ 24,000,000