Fair value disclosures - Assets Measured at Fair Value on Recurring Basis (Details) - USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2021	Dec. 31, 2020
Money market funds
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Fair Value	$ 27,671,000	$ 27,669,000
Fair value, measurements, recurring
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Fair value of liabilities	0
Fair value, measurements, recurring \| Money market funds
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Fair Value	27,671,000	27,669,000
Fair value, measurements, recurring \| Mutual funds held in Rabbi Trust
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Fair Value	826,000	810,000
Fair value, measurements, recurring \| Level 1 \| Money market funds
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Fair Value	27,671,000	27,669,000
Fair value, measurements, recurring \| Level 1 \| Mutual funds held in Rabbi Trust
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Fair Value	826,000	810,000
Fair value, measurements, recurring \| Level 2 \| Money market funds
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Fair Value	0	0
Fair value, measurements, recurring \| Level 2 \| Mutual funds held in Rabbi Trust
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Fair Value	0	0
Fair value, measurements, recurring \| Level 3 \| Money market funds
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Fair Value	0	0
Fair value, measurements, recurring \| Level 3 \| Mutual funds held in Rabbi Trust
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Fair Value	0	0
Fair value, measurements, nonrecurring
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Fair value of liabilities	0	0
Fair value of assets	$ 0	$ 0

Fair value portion of probable future economic benefits obtained or controlled by an entity as a result of past transactions or events.

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 820
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=117815213&loc=d3e19207-110258

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AssetsFairValueDisclosure
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of investment in debt security measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in other comprehensive income (available-for-sale).

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 210
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.9-03(6))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120398452&loc=d3e534808-122878

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 326
-SubTopic 30
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121558606&loc=SL82898722-210454

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121553693&loc=d3e26610-111562

Reference 4: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (aa)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121645371&loc=d3e27161-111563

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AvailableForSaleSecuritiesDebtSecurities
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FairValueBalanceSheetGroupingFinancialStatementCaptionsLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Fair value of financial and nonfinancial obligations.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LiabilitiesFairValueDisclosure
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_MoneyMarketFundsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FairValueByMeasurementFrequencyAxis=us-gaap_FairValueMeasurementsRecurringMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=nptn_MutualFundsHeldInRabbiTrustMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FairValueByFairValueHierarchyLevelAxis=us-gaap_FairValueInputsLevel1Member
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FairValueByFairValueHierarchyLevelAxis=us-gaap_FairValueInputsLevel2Member
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FairValueByFairValueHierarchyLevelAxis=us-gaap_FairValueInputsLevel3Member
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FairValueByMeasurementFrequencyAxis=us-gaap_FairValueMeasurementsNonrecurringMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: