disclosed herein are cerebrospinal diffusion phantoms which include a housing having a shape and size configured for insertion into a magnetic resonance coil in one or more preselected poses . a scaffold support structure is mounted on an interior of said housing and a plurality of elongated diffusion mimicking members supported on the support array . the elongated diffusion mimicking members are affixed to the scaffold support structure such that elongated diffusion mimicking members extend in directions needed to substantially emulate a 3 dimensional arrangement of cerebrospinal diffusion fiber tracts in a living organism ; as well as modules for elimination of resolution based - bias , angular accuracy evaluation , diffusion rate calibration , and quality assurance image referencing . each elongated diffusion mimicking member includes an aqueous component which can undergo diffusion along the elongated diffusion mimicking member . the phantom includes a cerebrospinal tissue mimic matrix material contained in the housing enveloping the array of elongated diffusion mimicking members . the housing is made of a material whose magnetic susceptibility substantially matches that of the cerebrospinal mimic matrix material .