Performance of the monitoring light source for the CMS lead tungstate crystal calorimeter

Light monitoring will play a crucial role in maintaining energy resolution for the CMS lead tungstate crystal calorimeter at LHC. In the last several years, a laser based monitoring light source was designed and constructed at Caltech, and was installed and commissioned at CERN. This paper presents the design of the CMS ECAL monitoring light source and its performance during beam tests. Issues related to the monitoring precision are discussed.