Please Help.  I have red laser diode won't la

I have a red laser diode that I have been working with for days and hours upon hours. I am getting extremely frustrated with it. After working on it the first time for several hours, and I mean several. Working on it I been just circuit boards and resistors. Anyways, after working on it for the first time I just figured I had blown in it. But I took it to my professor and he hooked it up to a power supply and it lased. Now I am here again, with a series circuit and the laser. Again I can't get it to lase. I am so close to just scrapping the entire little project I wanted to do.
It is a red laser 2.2 - 2.5v (it's been so long since I first got the diode) lase, somewhere around there and 30mA. I have it hooked up to a 9V battery.
At first I was doing a voltage divider, then an op-amp, now I'm just doing a series.
So in the series, I've been trying different resistors, each time measuring the voltage through the diode, it goes as follows:
R>300 ohms ----- <1V (through diode)
R=200 --------- ~1V
R=100 --------- ~1.1V
R=50 ---------- ~ 1.2V
I am now down to a 9V battery and a 22 ohm resistor, and only 1.5V is going through the diode, and the 7.5 through the battery. I see a pattern here and I bet it's basic.... but I don't wanna try another trial and error thing on this bread board. Please help.
Thank you.
---EDIT---
Also, the diode is not even lighting up like an LED. Needless to say I don't have much of a background in electronics, and this is my first time messing with an actually diode.

Re: Please Help.  I have red laser diode won'

EDIT: Saw that you said it is a 30mA diode. I would take it back to your prof and see if it lases now. Since it isn't drawing much voltage it sounds dead, especially if it wont light up even with just a 22ohm resistor.

you need to make sure you have the correct amount of current going through. Since you're using a 9v, that is more than enough, borderline overkill. But, voltage isn't nearly as important as current. Make sure its hooked up right. I really would recommend building a simple driver, that way you can control power with the turn of a pot, and wont risk frying your diode due to polarity or current spike issues. Take some pictures of your setup and I will be able to help more

Re: Please Help.  I have red laser diode won'

What is the current rating on the diode? A 9 volt battery and a 22 ohm resistor is putting almost 300mA into your laser diode.