Credit Facilities (Details)	9 Months Ended				9 Months Ended		12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
	Jul. 01, 2011 USD ($)	Jul. 01, 2011 Interest Accrued Description One [Member] Amended BofA Credit Facility [Member]	Jul. 01, 2011 Interest Accrued Description Two [Member] Amended BofA Credit Facility [Member]	Jul. 01, 2011 Support Letters of Credit [Member] Amended BofA Credit Facility [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 01, 2011 Japanese Line of Credit Facility [Member] JPY (¥)	Jul. 01, 2011 Amended BofA Credit Facility [Member] USD ($)	Oct. 01, 2010 Amended BofA Credit Facility [Member] USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2011 Japanese Overdraft Facility [Member] JPY (¥)	Jul. 01, 2011 Japanese Overdraft Facility [Member] USD ($)
Credit facility, maximum amount outstanding				$ 25,000,000	¥ 2,700,000,000	$ 225,000,000		¥ 500,000,000
Percentage of Varian Medical Systems Nederland B.V. voting shares pledged						65.00%
Amount deemed committed if Japanese Line of Credit were used						35,000,000
Maximum credit available if Japanese Line of Credit were used						190,000,000
Line of credit, interest rate calculation		London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") plus a margin of 1.25% to 1.50% based on a leverage ratio	federal funds rate plus 0.5% or BofA's announced prime rate, whichever is greater, minus a margin of 0.5% to 0% based on a leverage ratio		basic loan rate announced by the Bank of Japan plus a margin of 1.25% to 1.50% based on a leverage ratio			0.81% per annum
Line of credit, commitment fee						0.2% to 0.3% based on a leverage ratio
Line of credit, amount outstanding						0	20,000,000		0
Line of credit facility, maturity date					November 10, 2011	November 10, 2011			June 30, 2011
Line of credit, interest rate							1.51%
Amount used to support letters of credit, outstanding	$ 0						$ 0