With increasing external-field amplitude the dynamics of a driven two-
level system shows a cross-over from the weak-coupling or linear-respo
nse behaviour to a non-linear regime which is characterised by the app
earance of Rabi oscillations, a field-dependent dynamical susceptibili
ty, saturation of energy dissipation and additional frequencies in the
correlation function. The system is no longer in thermal equilibrium
with the heat bath; any initial distribution will relax towards a stat
ionary state with a time-dependent polarisation vector. These features
are derived from the propagator of the two-level system which is calc
ulated using a perturbative scheme with a well-defined small parameter
; the rotating-wave approximation of the Bloch equations is avoided. T
he dynamical behaviour is discussed by means of correlation and respon
se functions.