What kinds of functions can be expanded into a form of an infinite continued fraction?

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In this 1943 paper by Hudson on the theory of elastic waves in beams the author offers an interesting way to calculate a function defined as

$$ \theta_n (z)=\frac{z J'_n (z)}{J_n (z)} $$

with $z$ either real or imaginary, $J_n(z)$ - Bessel function, and $'$ denoting $z$ derivative.

To simplify the computation of this function he offers a continued fraction expansion for it based on the recurrence relation for Bessel functions.

$$ \theta_n (z)=n-\frac{z^2}{2(n+1)-\frac{z^2}{2(n+2)-...}} $$

So my question - is there a theory about expansion of functions into continued fractions and what kinds of functions can be expressed this way? And what about the interval (ring) of convergence for such fractions?


Edit: This answer offers a lot of information.