We present a theoretical and simulation study of anchored magneto-elastic filaments in external magnetic field. The filaments are Composed of a mixture of superparamagnetic and nonmagnetic colloidal beads interlinked with elastic springs. We explore the steady-state structures of filaments with various composition and ending rigidity subject to external magnetic field parallel to,the surface. The interplay of, elastic and induced magnetic interactions results in a rich phase behavior with morphologies reminiscent of macromolecular folding: bent filaments, loops, sheets, helicoids, and other collapsed structures. Our results provide new insights into the design of hierarchically assembled supramolecular structures with controlled response to external stimuli.

We acknowledge insightful discussions with the participants of the 2016 CECAM workshop "Emergent dynamics of out-of-equilibrium colloidal systems at nano- to microscales", especially with Ning Wu, Anand Yethiraj, Qian Chen, Kyongok Kang, and Tomaz Mohoric. The work was supported by the EC grant NANOTRANS 674979 MSC ETN, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of P. R China under the project buctrc201422 and the National Natural Science Foundations of China (Grants No.11232013 and No.11472285).