Stockholders' Equity (Details Textual) (USD $) Share data in Millions, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	1 Months Ended			9 Months Ended				9 Months Ended			9 Months Ended
	Jul. 28, 2013	Apr. 18, 2012	Mar. 31, 2013	Sep. 29, 2013	Sep. 30, 2012	Jan. 25, 2012	Sep. 29, 2013 Stock Options [Member]	Sep. 29, 2013 Performance Stock Units [Member]	May 16, 2014 Warrant [Member]	Dec. 30, 2007 Warrant [Member]	Sep. 29, 2013 Employee Stock Purchase Plan [Member]	Sep. 29, 2013 2005 Illumina, Solexa, and Verinata Plans [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Number of additional shares authorized												5.0
Total shares available for grant (in shares)											15.0	7.6
Stock options exercisable (in shares)							5.1
Stock options exercisable outstanding weighted average exercise price per share (in dollars per share)							$ 30.49
Percentage of performance stock award issuable, minimum								50.00%
Percentage of performance stock award issuable, maximum								150.00%
Performance stock award, performance period								3 years
Specified percentage of the fair market value of the common stock on the first or last day of the offering period which is lower at which stock is purchased				85.00%
Total shares issued under ESPP (in shares)											0.4
Number of shares warrants outstanding entitled to purchase (in shares)				15.4						18.3
Exercise price of warrants held by hedging counter parties (in dollars per share)										31.435
Number of warrants settled	3.0
Amount paid to settle warrants	$ 125,000,000
Warrant expiration period (in days)									40 days
Stock repurchase program, authorized amount		250,000,000
Number of shares repurchased				0.9
Payments for shares repurchased				$ 50,020,000	$ 52,509,000
Number of preferred share right declared as a dividend						1
Stockholder rights plan expiration date			Mar. 27, 2013