Bipartite Rokhsar-Kivelson points and Cantor deconfinement

Quantum dimer models on bipartite lattices exhibit Rokhsar-Kivelson points with exactly known critical ground states and deconfined spinons. We examine generic, weak perturbations around these points. In d=2 + 1 we find a first-order transition between a "plaquette" valence bond crystal and a region with a devil's staircase of commensurate and incommensurate valence bond crystals. In the part of the phase diagram where the staircase is incomplete, the incommensurate states exhibit a gapless photon and deconfined spinons on a set of finite measure, almost but not quite a deconfined phase in a compact U(1) gauge theory in d=2+1! In d=3+1, we find a continuous transition between the U(1) resonating valence bond phase and a deconfined staggered valence bond crystal. In an appendix, we comment on analogous phenomena in quantum vertex models, most notably the existence of a continuous transition on the triangular lattice in d=2+1.