We propose a new approach to classical detection problem of discrimination of a true signal from an interferent signal. We show that the detection performance, as quantified by the receiver operating curve (ROC), can be substantially improved when the signal is represented by a multi-component data set that is actively manipulated by a shaped probing pulse. In this case, the signal sought (agent) and the interfering signal (interferent) are visualized by vectors in a multi-dimensional detection space. Separation of these vectors is achieved by adaptive modification of a probing laser pulse to actively manipulate the Hamiltonian of the agent and interferent. We demonstrate one implementation of the concept of adaptive rotation of signal vectors to chemical agent detection by means of strong-field time-of-flight mass-spectrometry.