| Summary: | In this thesis I show how flux ratios taken between fiducial orbital phases in the light curves of irradiated CVs can be used to measure the degree of heating of the secondary star. I compare the heating effect obtained from flux ratio analysis with more formal modelling, or by measurements taken from the literature, in the classical novae QU Vul, V Per, DD Cir, DN Gem, V1432 Aql, and WY Sge. I find good agreement. I use the results to determine how irradiation changes with time since the nova outburst, and conclude that it is the decline in reprocessed irradiation from the cooling white dwarf alone, rather than a decline in mass transfer rate, that could be the cause of the decrease in optical brightness seen in old novae.
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