Acquisitions - Additional Information (Detail)	12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		1 Months Ended			1 Months Ended			1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended					1 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2010 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2010 Trade Name	Dec. 31, 2011 Other Intangible Assets USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2010 Minimum	Dec. 31, 2010 Maximum	Apr. 30, 2012 Precision Photonics Corporation USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Precision Photonics Corporation USD ($)	Apr. 11, 2012 Precision Photonics Corporation USD ($)	Apr. 30, 2012 ERC USD ($)	Apr. 30, 2012 ERC JPY (¥)	Dec. 31, 2012 ERC USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2012 Matcon Group Limited USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2012 Matcon Group Limited GBP (£)	Dec. 31, 2012 Matcon Group Limited USD ($)	Jul. 20, 2012 Matcon Group Limited USD ($)	Jul. 20, 2012 Matcon Group Limited GBP (£)	Jan. 31, 2011 At Films USD ($)	Mar. 11, 2011 Microfluidics USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2011 Cvi Mg USD ($)	Jun. 10, 2011 Cvi Mg USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Cvi Melles Griot USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 Cvi Melles Griot Trade Names USD ($)	Apr. 30, 2010 Ppe USD ($)	Jul. 21, 2010 OBL USD ($)	Sep. 17, 2010 Periflo USD ($)	Nov. 01, 2010 Fitzpatrick USD ($)
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Annual revenue of entity acquired								$ 7,000,000			$ 27,000,000	¥ 2,140,000,000
Aggregate purchase price										20,600,000	18,000,000	1,470,000,000					45,800,000	29,100,000	34,500,000	18,500,000		394,700,000			54,000,000
Goodwill recognized in acquisition	50,387,000	232,613,000	45,915,000						13,941,000	13,900,000	8,500,000		8,499,000			27,947,000	28,000,000		18,200,000	5,900,000		208,500,000	208,540,000		29,700,000	7,700,000	2,500,000	6,000,000
Intangible assets recognized in acquisition										5,100,000	5,600,000						14,100,000		11,400,000	9,700,000		115,800,000
Acquisition cash payment made for funded from operation										20,600,000
Goodwill not deductible for tax purpose										13,900,000	8,500,000									5,900,000					29,700,000	7,700,000		6,000,000
Business acquisition, cash consideration paid											13,300,000						35,000,000		31,800,000			393,300,000			51,300,000	15,400,000	4,300,000	20,300,000
Business acquisition, assumption of debt	30,754,000	56,289,000	30,439,000						2,465,000		4,700,000		16,074,000			12,215,000						1,400,000	48,572,000
Acquired entity, approximate annual revenue														34,400,000	22,000,000
Business acquisition, working capital adjustments																	2,400,000
Contingent consideration value as of opening balance sheet date	9,043,000	3,000,000														9,043,000	8,400,000		2,700,000
Business acquisition, minimum potential undiscounted amount of all future payments																	0
Business acquisition, maximum potential undiscounted amount of all future payments																	15,000,000
Business acquisition, amount financed with borrowings under the revolving facility																	15,000,000
Acquisition-related transaction costs	2,700,000															600,000
Fair value of inventory charges associated with acquisitions	900,000
Goodwill deductible for tax purpose																			18,200,000			117,700,000					2,500,000
Purchase price financed with borrowings under revolving credit facility																					365,000,000
Intangible assets	24,827,000	136,929,000	29,861,000		89,900,000				5,104,000				5,642,000			14,081,000							115,777,000	47,000,000	17,200,000	4,000,000	700,000	8,000,000
Acquired intangible assets amortization life				15 years		2 years	15 years
Acquisition related transaction costs		5,800,000	4,000,000
Assumption of debt																									$ 2,700,000