We demonstrate experimentally and theoretically the existence of canard orbits and excitable quasiharmonic limit cycles in the thermo-optical dynamics of semiconductor optical amplifiers. We also observe the phase locking of the noise-induced spikes to the small-amplitude Hopf quasiharmonic oscillations, recently predicted by Makarov, Nekorkin, and Velarde [Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 3431 (2001)]].