Commitments And Contingencies (Narrative) (Details) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended									12 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2011 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2011 USD ($)	Oct. 01, 2010 USD ($)	Oct. 02, 2009 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2011 Minimum [Member] CERCLA Sites And One Past Facility [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 Minimum [Member] Other Sites [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 Maximum [Member] CERCLA Sites And One Past Facility [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 Maximum [Member] Other Sites [Member]	Oct. 02, 2009 Fixed Price Contract [Member] EUR (€)	Sep. 30, 2011 New Contract [Member] EUR (€)	Sep. 30, 2011 CERCLA Sites And One Past Facility [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2011 Other Sites [Member] USD ($)
Commitments And Contingencies [Line Items]
Minimum rentals under operating leases fiscal year 2012	$ 15.2	$ 15.2
Minimum rentals under operating leases fiscal year 2013	12.2	12.2
Minimum rentals under operating leases fiscal year 2014	7.9	7.9
Minimum rentals under operating leases fiscal year 2015	5.4	5.4
Minimum rentals under operating leases fiscal year 2016	3.4	3.4
Operating leases future minimum payments due thereafter	3.9	3.9
Rental expenses		23.8	23.5	22.3
Guaranteed prepayments to a third party	67
Guaranteed prepayments to a third party in fiscal year 2012	46
Guaranteed prepayments to a third party in fiscal year 2013	21
Loan facility to CPTC	165.3
Varian's participation under the CPTC loan facility	115
Environmental cleanup costs, third-party claim costs, project management costs and legal costs		1.3	1.3	1.0
Estimated environmental remediation costs, minimum											2.1	6.3
Estimated environmental remediation costs, maximum											9.4	38.0
Estimated time frames to resolve contingency related to environmental remediation contingencies											one year up to thirty years	one year to thirty years
Estimated time frames to resolve contingency related to environmental remediation contingencies					1	1	30	30
Amount accrued for environmental remediation expense											2.1	10.6
Estimated environmental remediation costs, best estimate, undiscounted												14.3
Discount rate for environmental remediation costs, net of inflation												4.00%
Recorded receivables of past and future environmental-related expenditures	3.0	3.0	3.0
Loss accrual									€ 7.6	€ 1.0