A capillary evaporator (100) for removing heat from a heat source (102), particularly under high heat-flux conditions. The capillary evaporator includes a housing (104) having a plurality of ribs (108) in thermal communication with the heat source when the heat source is present. The ribs define a plurality of vapor channels (110) for receiving vapor (112) caused by the vaporization of working fluid (114) within the evaporator. A capillary wick (106) is located within the housing in spaced relation to the ribs. A bridge (118) interposed between the capillary wick and ribs thermally communicates heat from the ribs to the wick and fluidly communicates the vapor from the wick to the vapor channels. The bridge includes a plurality of fractal layers (FL) each having openings (122) and webs (128) that are scaled in size and number with respect to the immediately adjacent fractal layer and are arranged so that the openings in adjacent layers overlap one another. The fractal layers are arranged so that the fractal layer having the most, and smallest, openings is located immediately adjacent the wick and the fractal layer having the least, and largest, openings is located proximate the ribs. This structure provides the bridge with a superior compromise between the competing criteria of spreading heat evenly from the ribs to the surface of the wick and providing a high permeability for vapor flowing from the wick to the vapor channels.