The Shenguang-II Upgrade (SG-II Up) facility is an under-construction high-power laser driver with eight beams, 24 kJ energy, 3 ns pulse duration and ultraviolet laser output, in the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, China. The prototype design and experimental research of the prototype final optics assembly (FOA), which is one of the most important parts of the SG-II Up facility, have been completed on the ninth beam of the SG-II facility. Thirty-three shots were fired using 1-! energy from 1000 to 4500 J and 3-! energy from 500 to 2403 J with a 3 ns square pulse. During the experiments, emphasis was given to the process of optical damage and to the effects of clean-gas control. A numerical model of the FOA generated by the Integrated Computer Engineering and Manufacturing code for Computational Fluid Dynamics (ICEMCFD) demonstrated that a flux within 1–5 l s-1 and a 180 s period is effectual to avoid contaminant sputtering to the optics. The presence of surface ‘mooning’ damage and surface spots located outside the clear aperture are induced by contaminants such as wire, silica gel and millimeter order fiber and metal.