  The strong coupling between intense laser fields and valence electrons in
molecules causes a distortion of the potential energy hypersurfaces which
determine the motion of nuclei in a molecule and influences possible reaction
pathways. The coupling strength varies with the angle between the light
electric field and valence orbital, and thereby adds another dimension to the
effective molecular potential energy surface, allowing for the emergence of
light-induced conical intersections. Here, we demonstrate in theory and
experiment that the full complexity of such light-induced potential energy
surfaces can be uncovered. In H$_2^+$, the simplest of molecules, we observe a
strongly modulated angular distribution of protons which has escaped prior
observation. These modulations directly result from ultrafast dynamics on the
light-induced molecular potentials and can be modified by varying the
amplitude, duration and phase of the mid-infrared dressing field. This opens
new opportunities for manipulating the dissociation of small molecules using
strong laser fields.
