  Nonlinear relativistic ionization phenomena induced by a strong laser
radiation with elliptically polarization are considered. The starting point is
the classical relativistic action for a free electron moving in the
electromagnetic field created by a strong laser beam. The application of the
relativistic action to the classical barrier-suppression ionization is briefly
discussed. Further the relativistic version of the Landau-Dykhne formula is
employed to consider the semiclassical sub-barrier ionization. Simple
analytical expressions have been found for: (i) the rates of the strong-field
nonlinear ionization including relativistic initial and final state effects;
(ii) the most probable value of the components of the photoelectron final state
momentum; (iii) the most probable direction of photoelectron emission and (iv)
the distribution of the photoelectron momentum near its maximum value.
